Promise delivered: Local voters get a say on Māori wards from today

“Today, voting papers begin to arrive for the local body elections – and, crucially, voters finally have the chance to ditch divisive Māori wards,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Local issues of rates, roads, and rubbish affect everybody. We can meet these challenges together, without dividing communities into separate groups based on ancestry.

“Labour didn’t trust the voters so they rushed through a law change to abolish local referendums on Māori wards. It was a deliberate attempt to override the will of local communities and impose race-based representation.

“In the 42 local territories that introduced Māori wards under Labour’s settings, voters opening their ballot paper will see an option to vote for or against keeping those wards. That choice represents the delivery of an ACT coalition commitment.

“If any council tries to introduce Māori wards, voters can force a referendum via petition.

“ACT says your political rights should not be determined by your ancestry. Your vote should count the same as anyone else’s, no seat should be reserved for any particular group, and every councillor should be accountable to the full cross-section of their local community.

“Repealing Māori wards does not mean an end to Māori representation. Every voter, Māori or otherwise, will have an equal vote, and Māori candidates have proven more than capable of getting elected under these conditions.

“We’ll only move forward as a country when we stop obsessing over the race of the person solving the problem – and instead focus on solving the problem itself.”