Local Elections 2025: What is happening with Māori wards?

The Orange Guy is officially back and ready to tell everyone that it is that time once again we must vote, and no this isn’t for general elections - although they are next year - it’s for local elections.

Of course, many might not have known this was happening, or they know but don’t know what’s happening in these elections and why it may be different for many across the motu.

Well, it’s all about Māori wards.

The election will be very similar to previous ones, but for some Kiwis, they will be asked an extra question.

Starting from Northland all the way down to the top of the South Island, people’s ballot papers will ask whether or not they would like their local council and/or their regional council to have Māori wards remain.

This is affecting five regional councils and 37 local authorities — and, unusually, Tāmaki Makaurau isn’t involved, as it has no Māori ward.

This vote is open to everyone eligible, Māori and non-Māori. Voters will be asked to choose one of the following options:

“I vote to keep the Māori ward/constituency” and “I vote to remove the Māori ward/constituency”.

What happens after the vote?

Although the poll asks about the future of Māori wards, those on the Māori roll in certain areas will still be able to elect a Māori ward councillor for the 2026–2028 term.

Once the votes are counted, official results will be released in mid-October. The outcome will be binding for the 2028 and 2031 local elections.

If the result is in favour, Māori wards will remain in place and cannot be challenged until after 2031. If the result is against, they cannot be reintroduced until after 2031.

Tauranga is a special case, as they aren’t voting on Māori wards this year because they held elections last year. This led the central government to grant Tauranga City Council an extension to decide whether to hold a poll or disestablish its Māori ward by November 2026, and then hold a referendum by March 2027.

What are Māori wards for?

Well, Māori wards are similar to Māori parliamentary seats, with only those on the Māori roll eligible to vote for them. And like the general elections, those on the Māori roll only get to vote for the Māori Ward, not a general ward.

Whangārei District Māori Ward councillor, Deb Harding, said without Māori wards she wouldn’t had been able to get a seat at the table, having run in previous elections but being unsuccesful.

“I’ve tried that twice, [Northland] Regional Council and Whangārei District Council, got some good numbers but not enough to get a seat at the table.

“The first time Māori wards is in place and I’m finally in there. So, I’m overwhelmed and that’s what’s made me really commited to show up everyday. Be commited, be present, read the 500 pages and have a strong voice.”

Māori ward councillors have the same responsibilities as general ward councillors. The key difference is that they represent voters on the Māori roll, while general ward councillors represent voters on the general roll within their ward area.

The seat is also to ensure that tangata whenua is guaranteed a spot at the decision-making table.

“We need to keep the Māori wards, we need to keep the voice at the table, we need to keep the perspectives of mana whenua strongly in place cause better for us to be at the table than in the gallery,” Harding told Te Ao Māori News.

How did we get here?

To understand why Māori wards have been in the news, we need to go back to the beginning of the millennium.

In 2001, Parliament passed the Local Electoral Act, which allowed councils to establish Māori wards, with the law coming into effect in 2002

Between then and 2021, dozens of councils tried to establish Māori wards, but most were overturned by the public, with only three successfully implemented.

In 2021, when Labour was in government, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta moved to make the process easier for councils to establish Māori wards.

In February of the same year, Mahuta introduced the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021, which would allow councils across the country to establish Māori wards without the need for a binding poll, meaning people living in the area were unable to veto the action.

This was all passed within the same month, with councils able to set them up ahead of the 2022 Local Elections.

Mahuta called the amendment a “step forward for Māori representation in local government“.

“We know how important it is to have diversity around the council table and this forms a part of the Government’s commitment to working to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“These polls have proven to be an almost insurmountable barrier to councils trying to improve the democratic representation of Māori interests. This process was fundamentally unfair to Māori.

“Māori wards are an important step forward for many other councils that are seeking to improve the way they partner with and represent Māori in their communities,” she wrote in a 2021 statement.

Opposition parties at the time weren’t too thrilled about the change. In 2021, National’s Local Government spokesperson, Christopher Luxon, said central government shouldn’t intervene.

“It’s not for central government to get in the middle of the relationship between councils, iwi and hapū,” he said.

By 2023, many councils had already established Māori wards, with others planning to introduce them from the 2025 elections.

In the same year, National, ACT, and New Zealand First won the general election and formed a coalition. In their coalition agreement, all three parties committed to reinstating binding polls for all Māori wards.

ACT, however, had wanted Māori wards abolished entirely, calling them “undemocratic”.

2024 was when full steam picked up around the kaupapa, with current Local Government Minister Simeon Brown pushing a new bill through parliament. The Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2024.

The law was passed at the end of July 2024, requiring all councils that had established, or planned to establish, Māori wards without a binding poll to either disestablish them, rescind their decision, or put the issue to the public in the 2025 local elections. Councils were given a September deadline to make their decision.

“The Bill restores the rights of voters in local communities to determine whether to introduce Māori wards on their councils, a decision which restores local democracy and decision making,” Brown wrote in a 2024 statement.

“There is no more local a form of government than individuals being able to decide on local issues at the ballot box.”

Of the 45 councils, 44 voted. The majority chose to put Māori wards to the vote, while two opted not to continue.

Upper Hutt had planned to introduce a Māori ward but backed out. Kaipara, however, was the only council in the country with an established Māori ward that chose not to continue.

It caused major upset in the community with a large protest held outside the council meeting when they were deciding it in August 2024.

Their decision led to a Kaipara District council being taken to the High Court by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua over hāpu and iwi not being consulted before the decision, but the judge rejected the rūnanga legal challenge.

Who will be asked?

If you live in the following areas, your voting papers will have the special question asking you for your say on the future of the Māori wards.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Waikato Regional Council, and Wairoa District Council do not need to hold a binding poll because their Māori wards or constituencies were established before the 2021 law change. Ōpōtiki District Council also doesn’t, as its community voted in favour of Māori wards at a binding poll in 2022.

Voting closes on October 11 at noon.

Credits:

Reporter/Producer - Daniel Perese

Presenter - Riria Dalton-Reedy

QA - Tumamao Harawira

Cameraperson - Ed Wi

GFX - Joy Casilang

Editor - Tom Dreaver/Aydriannah Tuialii/Frank Bencsik

Te Reo Māori translator - Te Amohanga Rangihau