Whakatāne District Māori Ward Councillor Toni Boynton. Photo: Suplied
Local referendums on Māori wards start today, marking the latest clash between councils and the government.
Toni Boynton, Te Maruata Māori advisory group network co-chairperson told Morning Report Māori wards have been a great success across many councils.
"Many of the fears that people had before Māori wards were established were unfounded - claims of being apartheid or separatist were actually found to be opposite.
"We've actually found so many benefits, including in Whakatāne District Council, where we've saved the council hundreds of thousands of dollars for ratepayers because of our strength in relationships with iwi groups that we have in our district."
Boynton represents the Whakatāne District Council's Kāpū-te-rangi Māori ward.
There were 42 councils that established Māori wards without a referendum, who must now hold a binding poll after a law change last year.
The Local Government (Māori Wards) Amendment Act requires councils that brought in Māori wards without polling residents to either hold a binding poll at the 2025 local government election or remove Māori seats from this year's election entirely.
The Bill came out of a commitment in the coalition agreements with both ACT and NZ First.
Boynton said the changes made by the previous government removed the ability to go to referendum on the decision of Māori wards.
"And you need to be clear that no other ward can have a referendum," she said.
"If the council decided to establish a rural ward because the rural community said that they needed to have a voice in council, they could do that and nobody could take that to referendum.
"However, only a Māori ward would be able to have that," Boynton explained.
"When that was removed, it allowed for councils who'd been trying for 20 years to establish a Māori ward to do that and so they've been impacted
She said the issue with referendum was because it was always a vote of the majority.
"What we've known in the previous years when there was a poll, that it came down to the majority of the vote who were non-Māori and who may not, never had any experience of Māori or Māori communities or the views that are important for them."
The referendum is held alongside the local elections which runs from Tuesday 9 September to Saturday 11 October.
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