Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora: District should get its say
KDC's single-term Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward will disappear at the local elections as a result of the council's August decision, without any poll.
There will also be no vote in October on the presence of an electoral area of this type into the future.
That's in contrast to Far North District Council, Whangārei District Council and Northland Regional Council, which in August decided to keep their Māori wards.
But with that decision, communities will be asked what they think of the wards' continuing existence in polling at the October elections.
Paniora said it was unfair KDC could abolish its Māori ward without having to poll its people, but councils with Māori wards were required to poll to keep them.
Polling has traditionally resulted in Māori ward plans failing.
Paniora said 2025 polling about the future of Māori wards should be only for those voters on the Māori roll, as was the case for those voting for Māori ward councillors.
She is the only Māori ward councillor in New Zealand to lose her position at the end of this current term because the ward is being abolished.
Paniora will stand again in the Wairoa general ward for the council elections.
She said doing so offered two-for-one, where she would continue to represent Māori as part of doing so for the wider community.
About 40% of the west Kaipara ward's population is Māori.
Paniora said Māori ward councillors in Northland and around New Zealand should make sure their communities know the value of these electoral areas.
And she said people should make sure to get out and vote.
Paniora also encouraged more Māori to stand in Māori wards, as councillors in these wards were kaitiaki (guardians) of the positions.
She said that even if incoming Kaipara councillors decided to reinstate a Māori ward, it would be 2031 before that could happen.
Paniora wanted the ward continued in Kaipara, because democracy required councils to represent the demographics of all their people.
However, she said she wouldn't have stood in the ward, even if it had remained.
Paniora said it was valuable for those who won a seat via a Māori ward to do their time in that arena, but then move into general wards, to allow others the opportunity to stand in the Māori ward.
She said her time in what would be KDC's one-term Māori ward had been challenging.
Paniora said she was young, Māori and a woman, in contrast to others on the council who were older, Pākehā and male.
Since the 2022 local elections, KDC has canned karakia (ritual chants, prayers) to open and close council meetings and ended its Māori relationship agreements and associated funding with local iwi.
Paniora was elected to Te Maruata, Local Government New Zealand's (LGNZ) Māori elected politicians' group in 2022, but this position ended when KDC pulled out of LGNZ.
She recently won a Te Maruata award for her contribution to Māori.
Paniora said it was ironic that the ward she named was disappearing.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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