Māori electorates
[6] Despite numerous attempts to dismantle Māori electorates, they continue to form a distinct part of the New Zealand political system.
First, there are a number of skills that are essential for candidates to have in order to engage with their constituencies and ensure a clear line of accountability to representing the 'Māori voice'.
[9] Since 31 March 2023, Māori electors have been able to change rolls at any time, except in the three months preceding a general or local election or after a notice of vacancy is issued for a by-election.
[7] Parliament passed the act after lengthy debate, and during a period of warfare between the government and some North Island Māori hapū and was seen as a way to reduce conflict between cultures.
[10][11] Its primary aim was to enfranchise Maori who were indirectly excluded from parliament by the land ownership requirement.
Very few Maori qualified because of the property qualification - the land they owned was held in common and not by Crown grant: native title was not acceptable.
Concern was raised that, indirectly, this ran contrary to section III of the Treaty of Waitangi which made all Maori subjects of the monarch with corresponding voting and representation rights.
The bill was intended as a temporary measure, giving specific representation to Māori until the land ownership issue was resolved.
[16] The first Māori woman MP was Iriaka Rātana, who represented the Western Maori electorate.
Like Elizabeth McCombs, New Zealand's first woman MP, Rātana won the seat in a by-election caused by the death of her husband Matiu in 1949.
Te Pāti Māori criticised the compromise, with Waititi and fellow co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer describing the changes as "second-rate" and a "half pie ka pai" respectively.
The Electoral Commission subsequently launched a campaign to encourage non-voters to register with either the general or Māori rolls.
The electorates aroused controversy even at the time of their origin, and given their intended temporary nature, there have been a number of attempts to abolish them.
The reasoning behind these attempts has varied – some have seen the electorates as an unfair or unnecessary advantage for Māori, while others have seen them as discriminatory and offensive.
Many of the proposals came from members of the opposition, and possibly had political motivations – in general, the Māori MPs had supported the governing Liberal Party, which had held power since 1891.
[citation needed] Considerably later, in 1953, the first ever major re-alignment of Māori electoral boundaries occurred, addressing inequalities in voter numbers.
However, the government had other matters to attend to, and the issue of the Māori electorates gradually faded from view without any changes.
[30] National announced in 2008 it would abolish the electorates when all historic treaty settlements have been resolved, which it aimed to complete by 2014.
[33] In 2021, it was revealed that the National Party intended to run candidates in Māori electorates in the next general election.
[34] Hobson's Pledge, a lobby group founded by former ACT Party leader Don Brash, advocates abolishing the allocated Māori electorates, seeing them as outdated.
[37] In return for forming a government with the Labour Party, New Zealand First agreed to drop its demand for the referendum.
Māori MPs in the Liberal Party included James Carroll, Āpirana Ngata and Te Rangi Hīroa.
There were also Māori MPs in the more conservative and rural Reform Party; Maui Pomare, Taurekareka Henare and Taite Te Tomo.
[8] A development of particular interest to Māori came in 2004 with the resignation of Tariana Turia from her ministerial position in the Labour-dominated coalition and from her Te Tai Hauāuru parliamentary seat.
In the resulting by-election on 10 July 2004, standing under the banner of the newly formed Māori Party, she received over 90% of the 7,000-plus votes cast.
[61] In 1995, MLC Franca Arena moved the Parliament of New South Wales to an inquiry and report on the idea of providing seats dedicated to people of Aboriginal background, modelled on the Māori electorates, to create opportunity for Indigenous representation in that parliament.
[62] The Standing Committee on Social Issues, of which she was not part, released a report on the merits of the system in November 1998.
[64] The NSW Government members, however, did not conclude the proposal appropriate and leaned towards other measures to facilitate Aboriginal representation.
[63] Another report was released in 2003 by the Legislative Assembly of Queensland's Legal, Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee,[64] inquiring how to help Indigenous self-determination.
The idea of dedicated seats, however, although deemed to help reconciliation, was not suggested by the report because of strong opposition from some members of the committee.
