When Helen Clark’s
Labour Government introduced Maori Wards into the Local Electoral Act in
2002, the Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Select Committee David
Cunliffe stressed they could only be
established with community support: “There is a general referendum and a
general trigger mechanism that means no Maori ward can be established unless a
majority of all electors on the electoral roll say that should be the case.”
The “trigger mechanism” he described was a petition right enabling five percent
of voters to call for a referendum, so the community as a whole could decide
whether to introduce Maori wards.
The reason a “trigger mechanism” was needed was that establishing Maori wards
requires the introduction of the Maori Electoral Roll, and any constitutional
change involving the voting system requires a higher threshold - a ‘democratic
safeguard’ to prevent those in power from manipulating the system for their own
advantage.
