Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government has restored democracy to councils around Māori wards

A little bit of good news- The Government is restoring democracy to councils around the issue of Māori wards.

The Government's made the announcement this afternoon that the rules are going back to the way they were. If a council wants to set up a Māori ward, ratepayers will again have the option to petition and force a referendum and potentially, if they want to, overturn that plan altogether.

And also, all the councils who did set up Māori wards under the Labour Government in the last three years will either have to remove those Māori wards or hold a referendum next year.

By my count, that’s about 45 councils that are going to have to do that.

This includes Hamilton Thames-Coromandel, Tauranga, South Taranaki, Stratford, Napier, Wellington City, Nelson, Masterton- the list goes on.

Now, why I'm pleased about this is that it actually looked like this wasn’t going to happen. It was in the coalition agreements last year, but then last week there was a leak that Cabinet had decided to put this on the backburner.

Now either that leak was wrong, or the leak created drama-  and the Government decided it was better to go ahead with it.

The second reason I'm pleased about this is because ratepayers should call the shots on what happens on their councils- don't you think?

The only reason those 45 councils were able to set up those Māori wards in the last 3 years is because Labour stopped ratepayers from having that ability to petition and force a referendum.

Willie Jackson and Nanaia Mahuta (who was the minister at the time) weren’t even ashamed of the fact that they were removing a democratic trigger. They knew that's what they were doing, they said that they disagreed essentially with the principle of majority rules.

Now, this is not to say that the ratepayers of all 45 councils will necessarily veto the Māori wards. In some areas, the ratepayers might love it.

More power to them. It’s not an idea I think has any merit, but as I say, that's the call for the ratepayers of that region.

Already though, the shrill stuff has started. Waatea News is reporting that the Government is bringing 'back the white veto on Māori wards'. So expect that that’s the tone that’s coming on this.

But really, what this is actually about is ratepayers telling councils what to do, not the other way around. And that’s exactly how it should be.

Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.