The Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2024 is a New Zealand Act of Parliament which reinstates the poll requirements for Māori wards and constituencies. It requires local and regional councils that have established Māori wards and constituencies since 2020 without holding a referendum to hold one at the 2025 New Zealand local elections. The bill was one of the key commitments of the Sixth National Government that was formed following the 2023 New Zealand general election. It passed its third reading and became law on 30 July 2024.
Background In 2001, the Local Electoral Act 2001 was passed, allowing local or regional councils to establish Māori wards and constituencies to encourage Māori participation at the local government level. The law allowed local residents to petition for a binding referendum (or poll) to be held to challenge local and regional authorities' decisions to introduce Māori wards and constituencies. Under the law, a petition attracting five percent of local ratepayers was sufficient to trigger a poll on Māori wards. Since the law came into effect in 2002, 24 local councils had attempted to introduce Māori wards. However, only the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Waikato Regional Council and Wairoa District Council has introduced and retained them by February 2021. Efforts to introduce Māori wards by other councils including Palmerston North City Council, Kaikōura District Council, Whakatāne District Council, Manawatu District Council, and Western Bay of Plenty District Council were defeated during local polls in 2018.
In May 2016, former Mayor of New Plymouth Andrew Judd submitted a petition calling for the poll requirement for Māori wards to be eliminated through a law change. This was considered by Parliament's justice select committee between 2016 and 2019 but faltered due to disagreement between Labour and National Members of Parliament. In December 2020, advocacy group ActionStation and Māori ward campaigners Toni Boynton and Danae Lee collected 10,000 signatures calling for Parliament to eliminate the poll requirement for Māori wards and constituencies.
In late February 2021, the Sixth Labour Government passed the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021, which eliminated the poll provision for establishing Māori wards and constituencies. While the bill was supported by the Labour, Green parties and Te Pāti Māori, it was opposed by the opposition National and ACT parties which vowed to repeal the legislation if elected during the 2023 New Zealand general election. As a result, during the 2022 New Zealand local elections, six of the eleven regional councils (54.5%) established Māori constituencies and 29 of the 67 territorial authorities (43.3%) established Māori wards.
In late November 2023, the newly-formed Sixth National Government and its coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First pledged to "restore the right of local referendum on the establishment or ongoing use of Māori wards."
Key provisions The Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2024 is an omnibus bill that amends the Local Electoral Act 2001, the Local Government Electoral Legislation Act 2023 and Local Electoral Regulations 2001. The bill reinstates the poll policy settings for Māori wards and constituencies that were established under the Local Electoral Act 2001. These include the five percent electorate threshold for petitioning local and regional councils, the eligibility of voters (any person on the electoral roll for that council), the simple majority requirement needed to bind a council to the outcome and the two term timeframe for binding polls. The 2024 Act also eliminated the requirement for councils that had not established Māori wards and constituencies to consider the decision every six years.
The 2024 Act also requires local and regional councils that had established Māori wards and constituencies after 2020 without a poll to hold one during the 2025 New Zealand local elections. This will come into effect at the 2028 local elections. Councils, which had either established Māori wards and constituencies during the 2022 local elections or have resolved to establish them for the 2025 local elections, can vote to dissolve them without having a poll.
The 2024 Act also extends the delivery period for voting papers from six to 14 days, and the voting period for local elections from 22.5 days to 32.5 days. While the Local Government Act 2001 had set a postal ballot delivery date of six days and a voting period of 22.5 days, a reduction in New Zealand Post's staffing and postal infrastructure due to declining letter volumes and increased courier demand had led to delays in people receiving their postal ballot papers. Since 1995, all local councils had opted for postal voting over polling booths.
Legislative history Introduction In early April 2024, the Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced that local and regional councils which introduced Māori wards without polling residents would have to hold referendums during the 2025 local elections or dissolve the wards they had established prior to the 2025 local elections. Brown also announced that the government would introduce legislation restoring the right to referendums on Māori wards by the end of July 2024. The Wairoa District, Waikato Region and Bay of Plenty Regional Councils are unaffected by the Government declaration since they introduced Māori wards before the removal of poll requirements. The Ōpōtiki District's Māori wards are not affected by the ruling since they held a poll during the 2022 New Zealand local elections that found majority support for wards. The Tauranga City Council, which had been under the management of commissioners since 2020, held elections in July 2024. Tauranga has the option of reversing its decision to establish Māori wards or holding a poll during the 2024–2028 term, with the outcome taking effect after the 2028 local elections. The Stratford District Council, which had introduced a Māori ward during the 2022 local body elections, was also affected by the new proposed law since it had not conducted a referendum among residents.
First reading The Bill passed its first reading on 23 May 2024 by a margin of 68 to 55 votes. While the National Party and its ACT and New Zealand First coalition partners supported the Bill, it was opposed by the Labour, Green parties, and Te Pāti Māori. The bill's sponsor Brown argued that the Government was not removing the right to establish Māori wards but was restoring the right for local communities to decide. Similar sentiments were echoed by ACT MP Cameron Luxton and NZ First MP Andy Foster. By contrast, opposition MPs including Labour MP Kieran McAnulty, Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi accused the Government of promoting racism against Māori, undermining local governments, creating barriers to Māori participation in local government and violating the Treaty of Waitangi's principle of partnership.
Select committee stage Following its first reading, the Bill was referred to the Justice select committee with the deadline for submissions closing at 11:59 pm on 29 May 2024. The committee received and considered submissions from 10,614 interested groups and individuals. It also heard 172 oral submissions in Wellington and via video conference. The committee also received and considered 13,403 email submissions from the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.
The Justice select committee upheld most of the provisions of the Bill including reinstating the poll provisions of the Local Government Act 2001 and provisions for reverting to the pre-2020 arrangement for local councils. The committee acknowledged the Waitangi Tribunal's critical report of the Government's Māori wards legislation and the bill's Departmental Disclosure Statement that the legislation might conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee also developed a transitional options for councils to either disestablish their Māori wards or to hold binding polls on them during the 2025 local body elections. The select committee also considered the Labour and Green parties' differing views that the legislation hurt efforts to increase Māori representation at the local government level, interfered with local government principles and objectives and clashed with the Crown's Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
Second reading On 23 July, the Bill passed its second reading. Parliament voted by a margin of 68 to 55 votes to recommend the Justice select committee's recommendations and to read the bill a second time. National MPs Paulo Garcia and Tom Rutherford argued that the Bill would allow local communities to vote on Māori wards while fellow National MP Cameron Brewer argued that the election of Māori to Parliament and local government seats negated the need for Māori seats and wards. By contrast, Labour MPs Shanan Halbert and Duncan Webb criticised the Government for taking race relations backward and damaging Māori-Crown relations.
Third reading On 30 July, the Bill passed its third reading by a margin of 68 to 55 votes. While National, ACT and NZ First supported the bill as part of their coalition agreements, it was opposed by the Labour, Green parties, and Te Pāti Māori parties. During the third reading, Simeon Brown said that the Government was supporting local democracy by giving local communities the right to decide whether to establish Māori wards in their communities. By contrast, Labour leader Chris Hipkins accused the Government of discriminating against Māori and promoting division. Similarly, Te Pāti Māori MP Kapa-Kingi described the law change as an attack on the Treaty of Waitangi and an attempt to silence Māori.
Other speeches supporting the bill were also given by ACT MP Cameron Luxton, NZ First MP Andy Foster, and National MPs James Meager, Cameron Brewer, Paulo Garcia, and Rima Nakhle. Speeches opposing the bill were also made by Green MPs Hūhana Lyndon, Steve Abel and Labour MPs Willie Jackson, Shanan Halbert, Willow-Jean Prime and Cushla Tangaere-Manuel.
Responses Waitangi Tribunal inquiry On 8 May 2024, Pita Tipene, chairperson for Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hine, requested an urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the Government's decision to reinstate polls on Māori wards and constituencies in local government bodies as an attack on their efforts to uphold their Treaty of Waitangi obligations. The Tribunal held an urgent inquiry prior to the introduction of the Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies bill on 20 May. On 17 May, the Tribunal released its report on the Government's policy to repeal amendments made to the Local Electoral Act 2001 by the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021. They argued that the Government's policy of repealing the 2021 legislation breached the New Zealand Crown's Treaty of Waitangi obligations, would lead to the reduction in dedicated Māori representation at the local government level, expose Māori communities to racism and damage Māori-Crown relations. The Tribunal found that the Crown had breached the Treaty principle of partnership by prioritising coalition agreement commitments and failing to consult with Māori.
Local government responses