Mawera Karetai and her son, Jack Karetai-Barrett, are feeling thankful to everyone who voted for Māori wards, after a successful campaign to have them retained.

Whakatāne district received almost double the number of votes for Māori wards than it had in its 2018 referendum, with a clear majority over votes to remove them. Kawerau district received the second highest percentage of votes in favour of Māori wards in the country leaving Māori wards firmly ensconced in the entire Eastern Bay of Plenty local government sector.

Jack made national headlines for having walked to Tauranga from Whakatāne and biking to Wellington to raise awareness.

“Thank you to everyone who voted for Māori wards,” Jack told the Beacon.

In the course of their campaign, Dr Karetai became the new Kōhi Māori councillor for Bay of Plenty Regional Council. She was surprised to win the seat as she says she only stood for the position as a platform to speak about Māori wards.

Filing her election return this week, Dr Karetai reflected on the fact that she had not spent a cent on her election campaign. Without nailing up a single billboard, placing an advertisement or creating a social media campaign, she was elected with a 94-vote lead over three other candidates.

“It was never my plan to be elected, but it’s turned out well in the end. I’m happy that I was.”

She already has plans for how she can make a difference.

“The Bay of Plenty Regional Council doesn’t have a dedicated climate change committee. Which is weird, considering we are one of the most vulnerable communities in the country.

“Also, we don’t have a proper youth council. I would like to help them work toward that.

How do we really get kids excited about democracy and sitting at that table if they don’t know what’s involved in it?”

Having tried unsuccessfully for the Whakatāne mayoralty in 2013, the Whakatāne council in 2016, Bay of Plenty District Health Board in 2019 and Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2022, Dr Karetai said she felt jaded with the idea of standing for election this year.

Previous Kōhi Māori councillor Toi Iti and Whakatāne district councillor and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa chairman Tu O’Brien both suggested to her that she stand, but she was reluctant.

“I told Tu I would rather eat my own eyeballs. I was really happy with my life at the moment. It’s taken a really long time to get my work life balance where I want it.”

An online lecturer and ethics advisor at the University of Otago lecturing in the Masters of Sustainable Business Programme, she is also into her eighth year on the board of BayTrust.

She is a lead social researcher for Government funded research programme Our Changing Coast, looking into the impacts of sea-level rise, and has handed over part of her workload to accommodate regional council responsibilities.

This year was also the last year that she would have Jack, her youngest son, at home with her and wanted to spend time with him. However, it was Jack who ultimately persuaded his mother to stand.

“He said, ‘Mum, if you put your name in for regional council, you will be able to go to all the candidate meetings and talk about Māori wards’,” Dr Karetai said.

Dr Karetai has been a strong voice in the Whakatāne movement to have Māori wards adopted onto district councils. Bay of Plenty Regional Council, which she has been voted onto, was the first council in the country to have Māori wards.

“Every time I’ve stood, it’s been more about the opportunity to bring awareness to people.” Now, she gets asked by strangers if she is Jack’s mother.

One woman who introduced herself at Auckland Airport told her, “I’m voting for Māori wards because of Jack”.

“She said she didn’t have any reason to vote for or against them other than Jack did his big bike ride and that was a good enough reason.

“That sort of thing was happening all over the place. Speaking at candidate events was a chance to dispel myths and just keep going this thing that Jack had done,” she said.

Jack was as surprised as she was when she was elected.

“I rang Jack and told him and he said, ‘How did that happen?’”

Jack’s big future plans

After the efforts Jack Karetai-Barrett went to getting people to vote for Māori wards on district councils in the lead up to this year’s local government election, it’s no surprise people expect him to have an interest in politics.

They couldn’t be more wrong, he told the Beacon.

“No one should want to be a politician, it’s the worst job ever.”

Jack’s overarching ambition is to become a physiotherapist.

The 15-year-old plans to head overseas next year to study with United World Colleges, possibly in Norway or Canada.

He plans to spend two years gaining an International Baccalaureate Diploma either in climate action leadership or Red Cross.

Short term, however, he says he is “a bit busy”.

He is currently studying for exams but has already passed NZCA with excellence and is in the top 5 percent of students at Whakatāne High School.

He has plans over the summer for another walk, to Christchurch this time, with a friend.

They have a loose plan to use the walk to promote men’s mental health awareness, which they have known many of their friends struggle with.

He has also been accepted to take part in a week-long Blake Inspire leadership camp in December.

In the new year, he will go on a Blake adventure, possibly to the sub-Antarctic for a few weeks of conservation work.

After two years overseas, he has plans to return home to study physiotherapy at university.