Bill passed to abolish local veto on Maori districts despite marathon opposition from National

Despite a vehement fight from the opposition, the bill to get rid of the public veto over Maori districts has been passed.

The Labor Party used urgency in Parliament to achieve the law change with just a one-week select committee process.

The rush was to ensure that councils planning to establish Maori districts in the 2022 local body elections do not override them through a local voters’ referendum.

But the law change was fiercely opposed by National, who protested the bill by using more than 12 hours of House time challenging each of the 10 clauses.

The bill was supported by Labor, the Greens and Te Paati Māori and opposed by the National and Act.

After the final speech of the third reading, a waiata erupted in the public gallery.

Local government minister Nanaia Mahuta authored the bill and said in its third reading that it was an opportunity to rectify an unintended mistake two decades later.

Mahuta was in Parliament in 2002 when the then Labor government changed the law to allow councils to establish Maori districts.

But the legislation included a provision that allowed a small minority of voters, just 5 percent, to force a public referendum and ultimately veto a council’s decision.

Since then, 24 councils have attempted to introduce Maori neighborhoods, and only three have been successful.

If he had known that the 5 percent barrier was too low, “he would never have voted in favor,” Mahuta told the House.

Increasing Maori representation is essential to ensure fair representation and provide a Maori voice in local decision-making, he said.

The law was actually supposed to pass Tuesday night, but National forced urgent debate on the legislation through Wednesday afternoon through filibuster.

This also led to the postponement of the appearance of numerous public sector chiefs and ministers before select committees.

National’s tactic was to show its vehement opposition both to the bill’s content – saying it “mocks our democracy” – and to its use of urgency that it called “shameful and hypocritical.”

The party’s local government spokesman, Chris Luxon, said during the second reading of the bill that the electoral system should belong to the voters, not the elected.

He said making the law change urgently fell short of the Labor policy manifesto that promised “to ensure that important decisions about local democracy involve the full participation of the local population from the start.”

“It was a cynical policy, and the consequence is that the general public in New Zealand does not know why change is necessary. And that is a shame, because that will cause more division.”

He noted that despite the week-long selection committee process, there were 12,508 submissions on the bill, of which 76 percent opposed.

National Congressman Nick Smith said, at various points during his filibustering, that the process “reeks of arrogance” and was even “Trump-like” in removing the vote from the public because Labor did not like it.

“The electoral law is not your thing.”

Act also opposed the bill, while the Green Party and Te Paati Māori supported the bill.

Te Paati Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said they were in an “absolute celebration” of dismantling racism, but wanted the bill to go further and ensure that mana whenua was represented on all councils.

Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere said the bill ensures that Maori have a voice over local issues in Aotearoa.

“The number of non-Maori who still think they should maintain the Maori control system reinforces me why this bill is so important.”

The shadow leader of the House of Representatives, Chris Bishop, said it was “arrogant” of the Government to expect the bill to pass quickly and that it was a mistake on their part to write the legislation in 10 clauses that allowed the Opposition discuss each of them.