Mike Butler: Maori ward vote exemption wanted?

Since the Ruapehu District Council’s mayor has asked for his council to be exempted from the requirement to hold a vote on Maori wards next year, let’s have a look at what happened there three years ago when signatures were being collected for a petition.

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said his community qualifies for an exemption because the community had its say when a petition failed to gain the numbers needed to demand a poll.

This is according to a Wanganui Chronicle story by Moana Ellis who is a “Local Democracy Reporter” funded by the Public Interest Journalism fund which encourages coverage that favours an affirmative-action interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi.

But Mr Kirton’s claim is not as clear-cut as he wants you to believe.