NZCPR Submission: Local Government Maori Ward Bill

Submissions on the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Maori Wards and Maori Constituencies) Amendment Bill close on Wednesday 29 May at 11.59pm. 

This is the Bill that reintroduces petition rights for Maori wards, to enable voters to call for a referendum so the community can decide whether they want their councils divided along racial lines.

This democratic right was, of course, abolished by the Labour Government in 2021. Through this Bill, the Coalition Government is restoring local democracy. 

We would urge anyone who supports the Bill to send in a submission saying so. Full details can be found by clicking HERE. 

Since the NZCPR strongly supports the Bill and has sent in a submission that includes two suggestions to improve the Bill, we are sharing those details below.

You are more than welcome to use the information for your own submission – but please remember to use your own words otherwise similar submissions are counted as one, and we want each submission to count.  

Our first recommendation relates to the Explanatory Note of the Bill:

Given the widespread misinformation surrounding the use of petition rights to call for a poll of electors, we would like to suggest that the Bill’s Explanatory Note includes a brief outline of their origin and rationale.

Local government petition rights were, of course, introduced into the Local Electoral Act by Helen Clark’s Labour Government in 2001 and 2002 as a constitutional safeguard to protect the electoral system. If a petition to hold a poll challenging a council decision affecting the way councillors are elected was supported by at least 5 percent of voters, councils were required to hold a referendum, with the result binding on them for at least the next two terms.

Since the voting system in any democracy is sacrosanct, democratic convention requires decisions that change constitutional arrangements - including the electoral system - to have a higher threshold than other decisions. As a result, petition rights were applied to the two provisions in the Local Electoral Act that changed the voting system.

The first of these was any change between First Past the Post voting and STV. And the second was the introduction of Maori Wards, since that also changes the voting system by including the Maori Electoral Roll alongside the General Electoral Roll. 

Since other ward changes, such as creating a rural ward, involve boundary alterations and not changes to the electoral system, petition rights do not apply. 

Our second recommendation relates to the timing of Referenda:

The second recommendation we would like to make relates to the timing of the referenda that will enable communities that have been denied the right to have a say on the establishment of Maori Wards the opportunity to do so.

At the present time the Bill gives affected councils that have the ability to vote against Maori Wards the opportunity to remove them from the 2025 election - if they resolve to do so by 6 September 2024.

As a result of such a resolution, councils that created Maori Wards prior to the 2022 local body election, along with councils that had decided to introduce them for the first time, will have no Maori Wards after the 2025 elections.

However, if a council chooses not to vote on this matter, then the Bill requires them to hold a binding referendum at the time of the 2025 local elections. The problem with this is that a referendum result to disestablish Maori Wards will not take effect until the 2028 election. As a result, many communities that oppose Maori Wards will be required to live with them for a further three years.

This forces those communities to be subjected to an electoral system they do not support for a total of six years - others for three years.

This is not in the interests of democracy. It is an unsatisfactory outcome.

It is therefore our recommendation that those councils who do not pass a disestablishment/revoking motion before 6 September 2024, should be required to hold their binding referendum before 30 November 2024, the result of which will take effect from the 2025 local body election.

This would advance the reform by three years. 

This timeframe should allow for a shortened representation review process to provide the information necessary for the 2025 election to go ahead in line with the democratic decision of the community.

While the counter argument against this suggestion will undoubtedly be cost, it should be remembered that the need for this rescinding legislation was caused solely by the actions of the previous government. The retrospective nature of Minister Mahuta’s legislation further exacerbated the problem because those communities that had already gathered the threshold number of elector signatures to require their council to hold a binding referendum, were denied the legal rights they had pursued in good faith in the interests of local democracy.  

We therefore submit that this Government should provide a grant to affected councils to cover the additional cost of holding a stand-alone referendum, since resolving this matter in a timely fashion is in the national interest and is an essential step in strengthening New Zealand democracy.

Furthermore, changing the Bill in such a manner will undoubtedly result in more councils voting to remove Maori wards by 6 September, because they will know their communities will oppose Maori wards, and in the end, they will not want to be responsible for incurring the additional cost of a referendum on their ratepayers. 

Our Conclusion states:

In conclusion, we believe these two recommended changes – firstly, including in the Bill’s Explanatory Note the fact that petition rights are a democratic safeguard applied to changes of a constitutional nature, and secondly, requiring referenda to be held this year so all Maori Ward decisions can take effect from the 2025 election - will significantly improve the Bill and the outcomes for New Zealanders.

Our full submission can be seen below.

SUBMISSION: Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Maori Wards and Maori Constituencies) Amendment Bill

27 May 2024

Committee Secretariat
Justice Committee
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Sir, 

Thank you for providing the opportunity to make a submission on the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Maori Wards and Maori Constituencies) Amendment Bill.

This submission is on behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, a public policy think tank established in 2005. 

While the NZCPR strongly supports the Bill, we would like to make two recommendations that we believe would significantly improve outcomes. Please note that in the interest of simplicity, our reference ‘councils’ refers to Territorial Authorities and Regional Councils, and our reference to ‘Maori Wards’ also includes ‘Maori Constituencies’.

Explanatory Note

Firstly, given the widespread misinformation surrounding the use of petition rights to call for a poll of electors, we would like to suggest that the Bill’s Explanatory Note includes a brief outline of their origin and rationale.

Local government petition rights were, of course, introduced into the Local Electoral Act by Helen Clark’s Labour Government in 2001 and 2002 as a constitutional safeguard to protect the electoral system. If a petition to hold a poll challenging a council decision affecting the way councillors are elected was supported by at least 5 percent of voters, councils were required to hold a referendum, with the result binding on them for at least the next two terms.

Since the voting system in any democracy is sacrosanct, democratic convention requires decisions that change constitutional arrangements - including the electoral system - to have a higher threshold than other decisions. As a result, petition rights were applied to the two provisions in the Local Electoral Act that changed the voting system.

The first of these was any change between First Past the Post voting and STV. And the second was the introduction of Maori Wards, since that also changes the voting system by including the Maori Electoral Roll alongside the General Electoral Roll. 

Since other ward changes, such as creating a rural ward, involve boundary alterations and not changes to the electoral system, petition rights do not apply.

Referenda

The second recommendation we would like to make relates to the timing of the referenda that will enable communities that have been denied the right to have a say on the establishment of Maori Wards the opportunity to do so.

At the present time the Bill gives affected councils that have the ability to vote against Maori Wards the opportunity to remove them from the 2025 election - if they resolve to do so by 6 September 2024.

As a result of such a resolution, councils that created Maori Wards prior to the 2022 local body election, along with councils that had decided to introduce them for the first time, will have no Maori Wards after the 2025 elections.

However, if a council chooses not to vote on this matter, then the Bill requires them to hold a binding referendum at the time of the 2025 local elections. The problem with this is that a referendum result to disestablish Maori Wards will not take effect until the 2028 election. As a result, many communities that oppose Maori Wards will be required to live with them for a further three years.

This forces those communities to be subjected to an electoral system they do not support for a total of six years - others for three years.

This is not in the interests of democracy. It is an unsatisfactory outcome.

It is therefore our recommendation that those councils who do not pass a disestablishment/revoking motion before 6 September 2024, should be required to hold their binding referendum before 30 November 2024, the result of which will take effect from the 2025 local body election.

This would advance the reform by three years. 

This timeframe should allow for a shortened representation review process to provide the information necessary for the 2025 election to go ahead in line with the democratic decision of the community.

While the counter argument against this suggestion will undoubtedly be cost, it should be remembered that the need for this rescinding legislation was caused solely by the actions of the previous government. The retrospective nature of Minister Mahuta’s legislation further exacerbated the problem because those communities that had already gathered the threshold number of elector signatures to require their council to hold a binding referendum, were denied the legal rights they had pursued in good faith in the interests of local democracy.  

We therefore submit that this Government should provide a grant to affected councils to cover the additional cost of holding a stand-alone referendum, since resolving this matter in a timely fashion is in the national interest and is an essential step in strengthening New Zealand democracy.

Furthermore, changing the Bill in such a manner will undoubtedly result in more councils voting to remove Maori wards by 6 September, because they will know their communities will oppose Maori wards, and in the end, they will not want to be responsible for incurring the additional cost of a referendum on their ratepayers.

Conclusion

We believe these two recommended changes – firstly, including in the Bill’s Explanatory Note the fact that petition rights are a democratic safeguard applied to changes of a constitutional nature, and secondly, requiring referenda to be held this year so all Maori Ward decisions can take effect from the 2025 election - will significantly improve the Bill and the outcomes for New Zealanders.

Yours sincerely,
Dr Muriel Newman
New Zealand Centre for Political Research

Dr Muriel Newman, a former Member of Parliament, runs the New Zealand Centre for Political Research public policy think tank at www.nzcpr.com.