A council in “the heart of Māoridom” has voted to hold a binding poll on its Māori ward in a meeting attended by a crowd of about 60 people – and two police officers.
All but one Rotorua councillor agreed, including Mayor Tania Tapsell who previously opposed Māori wards in Rotorua.
Rotorua Lakes Council ramped up security for the meeting, with the first two rows of public seating marked “reserved”, public access to the council table roped off, and police officers posted either side of the audience.
Government rules introduced on August 1 required councils wishing to keep Māori wards created without a binding public poll since 2020 to poll voters on the decision at the next local election in 2025.
Rotorua, which has one three-member Māori ward, was among 45 councils that resolved to create or created Māori wards after the binding poll mechanism was removed from the Local Electoral Act 2001.
At the Local Government NZ conference in Wellington last week, a majority of councils voted to push back against the Government’s reversal of this in the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill.
A group opposing the bill protested outside the conference.
Rotorua councillors workshopped the bill’s “limiting” options a month ago.
A vote to keep the ward would result in the binding poll, while a vote to disestablish would see the council return to its 2019 representation structure or have a rapid and unbudgeted and representation review.
Rotorua’s Māori ward councillors are Rawiri Waru, Lani Kereopa and Trevor Maxwell.
Maxwell is the country’s longest-serving councillor while Waru and Kereopa were newly elected in 2022.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Maxwell said the vote was significant.
“I will be asking for a division so our community can know where we all stand on this issue here in the heart of Māoridom.”
Kereopa said Māori wards were one way of supporting iwi engagement in decision-making.
“They go some way to acknowledging our rights as First Nations people … they allow whānau on the Māori roll to elect our own representatives.”
Waru said Māori-held seats were not guaranteed before wards.
Councillor Don Paterson described the last representation review in 2021 as a “shemozzle”, and said he believed opting for another could produce the same result as the council did not have the resources or time to do it properly.
Polling at the 2025 election meant the people of Rotorua could determine the result, Paterson said.
The 2021 review saw the council pursue, then abandon, a controversial law change allowing an equal number of Māori and general ward seats on the council.
In 2022, the Local Government Commission determined the council would have six general ward councillors, one rural ward councillor, three Māori ward councillors and a mayor elected at large. It was set for two electoral cycles.
Councillor Robert Lee voted to disestablish the ward – he quoted “salient arguments” Tapsell made when voting against Māori wards as a councillor in 2021.
“I respect other councils need Māori wards but Rotorua is unique. Māori have been successful being elected … I’m concerned it’s a backward step for Te Arawa.”
Restricting Māori voters to three councillors instead of 10 was “not progress”, she said at the time.
There were four Māori elected members then, and four now including the mayor.
Lee believed the wider community should have been consulted in 2021, and said that was what the Government was intending to do with the law change.
He supported reverting to 10 at-large councillors and not holding a representation review until the next term.
Tapsell said she voted against Māori wards in 2021 because of “fair concerns”.
“They shouldn’t be forcibly removed due to a government. I believe in local decision-making and am happy to support retaining them.”
Asked why the security measures were taken at the meeting, chief executive Andrew Moraes told Local Democracy Reporting it would do so when required “in response to an increase in abusive communications and threats to people in relation to council business”.
“Our priority is to keep our people, the public and our spaces safe.”
Asked if Wednesday’s measures were a response to abuse or threats and, if so, what those were, a council spokeswoman said it could not comment further as it had “handed the information on to the police, which may result in an investigation”.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air