If Kawerau electors want to have Māori wards on their district council after 2028 they will need to vote for them at next year’s election.

Kawerau District Council voted today to reaffirm its decision, made in November last year, to have Māori wards at next year’s local elections.

It is currently consulting on a representation proposal for next year’s election to have one Māori ward with three elected members, one general ward with three elected members and one at large ward with two elected members.

It is one of 13 councils throughout New Zealand that decided last year to have Māori wards from next year and one of 45 required to either remove the Māori wards they planned to have at next year’s election or hold a binding poll during the elections to allow every voter to say whether they think they should have Māori wards or not.

If the outcome of the poll is not in favour of Māori wards, they will not be able to consider them again until after the 2031 elections, even if petitioned by 5 percent of the electorate to do so.

The requirement is the outcome of the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2024, which came into effect at the end of July.

The councillors voted unanimously to stick with the commitment they had made to their community last year.

Mayor Faylene Tunui said she couldn’t think of any other piece of work the council had done that required them to reconfirm with their community, “not just once, not twice, but three times,” that it was sure this was what they wanted.

“At the next election we will be asked once again, ‘are you sure, Kawerau?’”

Councillor Sela Kingi urged anyone who wanted to have their say on whether to have Māori wards to ensure they were enrolled for the upcoming election.

Whakatāne District Council will have a similar decsion to make on Thursday. It introduced three Māori ward seats at the last election and will vote tomorrow whether to disestablish these for the next election or hold a poll.

The council was unanimous when it voted to establish them in 2021.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Bay, Ōpōtiki District Council’s decision to introduce Māori wards next year is not affected by the amendment as it held a non-binding poll in 2022.

Māori ward seats on Bay of Plenty Regional Council are also exempt as they were established before the Labour Government abolished the ability for a petition from 5 percent of a council’s electors to force a referendum on Māori wards in 2021.