Rodney Hide: The Maori Electorates - Racist Relic That Must Go

The Maori electorates are a 19th-century anachronism that should have been abolished twice—first when universal suffrage arrived in 1893, and again when MMP was adopted in 1996. They are racist by design, divisive by operation, and the breeding ground for the ethnic grievance industry now dominating our politics.

Created in 1867 as a temporary bridge for Maori men excluded by the property qualification, the seats lost all justification the moment every adult New Zealander gained the vote on equal terms.

Geoff Parker: The Māori Seats - History, Not Myth

Professor Anaru Eketone claims the Māori electorates were a cynical device to suppress Māori political influence.(paywalled) The historical record suggests the opposite: the Māori seats were created to bring Māori into the parliamentary system and guarantee representation, rather than exclude them.

By 1867, when the Māori Representation Act 1867(1) passed, Europeans outnumbered Māori roughly four to one. In 1864 there were about 62,000 adult European men, but only around 19,500 were on the electoral rolls. Many more were actually qualified under the property franchise but had not enrolled. Even so, the number of potential settler voters already exceeded the total number of adult Māori men in the country(2). Any fear that Māori might “outvote Europeans” was therefore absurd.

Gary Judd KC: National could signal its support for democracy

It could join ACT and NZ First to abolish the Maori electoral seats

This is a companion piece to my just-published Ghettoizing the mind. Both were stimulated by Dr Muriel Newman’s feature article, The Future of the Maori Seats in which she carefully marshalled nearly all the reasons why they should be gone. She also introduced as a guest commentary an address given by Hon Bill English in 2003: Address to the National Press Club Breakfast 24 July 2003.

John McLean: Would The Real National Party Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe…which way will The Nats Go?

In October 2017, Rapper Marshall Mathers got wildly worked up about US President Donald Trump. The artist know as Eminem, clearly afflicted by a virulent early strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome, produced a freestyle rap called “The Storm”. It wasn’t his finest work. But The Storm did contain a cornel of eternal truth. Sometimes there’s a line and you have to choose which side you’re on.

Gary Judd KC: Maori seats foster self-ghettoisation

Dr Muriel Newman’s feature article for 24 February, The Future of the Maori Seats, summarises why they should have been abolished long ago. There is another reason which I don’t recall having seen: the Maori seats encourage self-ghettoisation.

I came across the terms “ghettoise” and “ghettoisation” a few days ago, in THE END OF WOKE: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution where Andrew Doyle writes:

NZCPR Newsletter: The Future of the Maori Seats

Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program

– Milton Friedman.

The future of the Maori Seats has once again been raised as an important issue for New Zealanders to consider.

Chris Lynch: Seymour defends Treaty stance, backs removal of Māori seats

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has dismissed criticism from former Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel over his comments on the teaching of colonisation, saying New Zealand should focus on equal rights rather than what he calls inherited divisions.

Dalziel wrote in an opinion piece that Seymour’s characterisation of how colonisation is taught suggests it “casts children as victims or villains by birth,” describing that view as “disgraceful.”

Matua Kahurangi: A taxpayer-funded piss-take: why the Māori seats have to go

If I had it my way, the Māori seats would be gone tomorrow. No referendum. No hand-wringing. Gone.

Because what they’ve become, in practice, is a protected lane for political cosplay, where performance gets rewarded and accountability gets treated like an insult. Te Pāti Māori have leaned into that harder than anyone. You only have to watch their conduct and attendance in Parliament to see they’re part-time MPs, full-time theatre.

Bob Edlin: Prime Minister's position on Maori seats.....

How the PM wriggles when asked to declare his position on the future of the Māori seats

Can the PM support something which he regards as senseless?

The answer is yes, when it comes to supporting the Māori seats.

An RNZ report in January 2023 was headed

Matua Kahurangi: End the Māori seats debate properly with a binding vote

New Zealand First has done something most parties are too timid to do. They’ve put a hard, controversial issue back in front of the public and said you decide.

You would have seen last week that Winston Peters announced NZ First will campaign on a referendum on the future of the Māori seats ahead of November’s general election. That matters, because for years this topic has been treated like a political no-go zone, even though plenty of ordinary Kiwis have opinions on it.

But here’s the key point. A referendum that isn’t binding is just political theatre.

Steven Gaskell: Greens Push to Lock in Māori Seats Because Some Votes Need Extra Protection

Just when you thought New Zealand’s electoral system couldn’t get any more “future-proofed,” along come the Greens with a helpful new idea: entrench Māori seats so they can’t be removed without a super-majority of MPs.

That’s right. In the name of democracy, the Green Party wants to make it harder for future Parliaments to change how representation works provided the seats in question are the right ones.

David Farrar: Labour winning all the Māori seats would be good for NZ

Radio NZ reports:

“I think Te Pāti Māori has got themselves into a world of difficulty. They’re not in any fit shape to play a constructive role in the current Parliament, much less a future government,” he told RNZ head of Labour’s annual meeting in Auckland on Friday night.

Bob Edlin: Maori Party is warned against committing political suicide.....

Maori Party is warned against committing political suicide – but look at NZ First before declaring it dead

Māori Party MPs have been absent from New Zealand Parliament sittings on several occasions due to a mix of disciplinary measures, protests, and internal party matters.

John McLean: Initiative Lacking On Maori Seats

The New Zealand Initiative prostrates itself to a Māorified Parliament

On its website The New Zealand Initiative claims, “We are the organisation to sketch pathways towards a better future”.

In October 2025, NZ Initiative sketched out its recommendations for reforms to New Zealand’s ‘mixed-member proportional’ (MMP) electoral system. NZ Initiative’s report, MMP AFTER 30 YEARS Time for Electoral Reform?, was authored by NZ Initiative’s Nick Clark. Insomniacs can read the report here:

Ele Ludemann: I asked the wrong question

Yesterday’s post on getting rid of the Maori seats explained I’d asked AI for some ideas.

The response from Google Gemini was it couldn’t help because it would incite discrimination and hate speech.

I wondered what would happen if I asked it to critique the points I’d made. The ressult showed I’d asked the wrong question yesterday and got a much better response : This was the critique (my points are in bold, followed by AI’s response):

Ele Ludemann: Māori seats passed their use-by date

When I was thinking about writing a post arguing that the Māori seats have passed their use-by date and asked Goggle Gemini to give me some ideas.

This is the reply I got:

Perce Harpham: Renewing New Zealand - Part 1

In this, Part 1, I will explore some of the issues which have determined our present situation. I will show some of the extent to which the power of the block of Maori seats in Parliament has threatened our democracy - bringing legal rights and tax exemptions for Maori at the cost of ratepayers and, heavily, taxpayers.The Treaty Principles Bill was a brave attempt to have the Waitangi Treaty simply mean what it says. Now that the Select Committee has slapped it down, do we simply accept all the fabrications that have been built around the Treaty or do we do something different?

John Porter: If Reversed it Would be Called Racism

American political economist Benjamin Friedman, author of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, a basic reassessment of the underpinnings of today’s economics, once compared modern Western society to a bicycle whose forward momentum was kept going by continuing economic growth. He expounded that should that forward-propelling motion slow or cease, the pillars that define our society – our democracies, our individual liberties and social tolerance - would begin to falter.

Further warning, “…if society was unable to get the wheels back in motion, countries would eventually face total societal collapse”. 

Matua Kahurangi: Māori Seats

The racist roadblock to New Zealand’s unity

New Zealand prides itself on being a democratic nation committed to fairness, equality, and unity. Yet, within our parliamentary system exists a relic from another era - the Māori seats.

Originally introduced in 1867 as a temporary measure to ensure Māori representation at a time when most Māori were excluded from voting due to land ownership requirements, these race-based seats have remained in place for over 150 years. What may have once been a practical solution has today become an outdated and divisive institution that undermines the very principles of equality and unity it was meant to support.

Dr Don Brash: The Nail in the Coffin for Maori Seats

I don't know about you, but I have had a gutsful of the disrespect and disdain Te Pāti Māori show for our Parliament and for all of us.

With their hateful rhetoric and disruptive antics they have demonstrated that Māori seats have become the home of the most extreme race activists.

Te Pāti Māori have put the final nail in the coffin of Māori seats.