Simon Wilson: It’s Luxon’s choice – kotahitanga or a destructive race debate

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THREE KEY FACTS
Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.
OPINION

Prime
Minister Christopher Luxon made a heartfelt and moving tribute to the late Kīngi Tūheitia on the ātea at Tūrangawaewae Marae last week.

“He always welcomed me and was focused on ways we could work together,” said Luxon, stopping to hold back tears. “His commitment to kotahitanga, unity, will have a lasting impact on our country.”
Great humanity, great leadership and all credit to him.
Luxon captured the spirit of the nation that day, although the news did not filter through to Kaipara Mayor and Hobson’s Pledge activist Craig Jepson, who refused to allow a moment’s silence in a district council meeting to mark Tūheitia’s passing.
Who does that? It was miserable, mean and calculated to offend.
Five days later when Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po was annointed, Archbishop Don Tamihere delivered a pointed sermon about the wellbeing of Māori and the health of the nation.
Addressing the new Queen, he said she and everyone who supported her and everyone else of goodwill, which implied Luxon was included, had a job to do.
He quoted the late activist and lawyer Moana Jackson: “If we focus too long on tearing down, we forget how to build up, we forget how to stand together, we forget how to be united.”
Now what? This is Luxon’s moment, should he wish to take it.
There is much for him to do. If he really is committed to building unity, his first steps will be to stop Act Party leader David Seymour’s Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill in its tracks and repeal the new law on Māori wards.
The Treaty bill has just gone to Cabinet and I’ll write on it soon.
The Māori wards law is the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2024, introduced by Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and passed in July.
It requires councils with Māori wards to hold a binding referendum at their next election on the future of those wards (unless they were established by referendum in the first place) or abolish the wards. Councils must pay for the referendums themselves.
A Prime Minister committed to nation-building on the principle of kotahitanga would not risk letting the 2025 council elections be overwhelmed by a destructive race debate.
At the recent Local Government New Zealand conference, 83.5% of councils supported a remit from the Palmerston North City Council to oppose the act. Of the 45 councils that have Māori wards or have voted to create them, all but two – Upper Hutt and Jepson’s Kaipara – have voted to keep those wards.
Those councils will have to hold referendums, assuming there are no successful legal challenges to the act.
Councils have spoken clearly. Reflecting a mood the PM should be aware of, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell, who is a member of the National Party, was against the introduction of Māori wards in 2022 but voted to keep them this year.
Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson said: “Māori representation at the council table is a positive thing and not something people should be frightened of.”
Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan said the referendum would be a waste of money when 73% of submitters to the original Māori wards proposal had been in favour.
In South Taranaki, Mayor Phil Nixon said: “Our move to Māori wards has encouraged more Māori to participate in the governance of our district and means the council is more representative of our whole community.”
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania was blunt. “Central government has trust issues,” he said. “They keep telling us that we need to listen to our people. We are.” He called the law “racist”.
A Prime Minister committed not just to unity but to localism would respect these voices. He would notice how widespread they are in provincial New Zealand, which his party likes to think it represents.
The new law was prescribed in the National-Act coalition agreement and has been welcomed by Seymour and the zealots of Hobson’s Pledge.
But success, for them, won’t be measured by how many referendums go their way. They win when they’re given a platform for misinformation and fearmongering, because that’s how they build their base.
The same is true with Seymour’s own referendum proposal in his Treaty “Principles” Bill.
To date, Luxon has shown little sign of understanding any of this. Despite his respect for Kīngi Tūheitia, he doesn’t seem able to spot race-baiting even when it rears up in front of him. Now he has a choice to make.
These referendum plans might be thrilling for Seymour, Brown and Hobson’s Pledge, but they are not good for the country, for Māori, for Government-council relations. And as columnist Matthew Hooton argued so well last week, they’re not good for the National Party either.
Act is feeding on Luxon’s lack of leadership. Much of the rest of the country would have welcomed the way the PM spoke at Tūrangawaewae and would like to think we can build on the values he affirmed.
But let’s not forget, the Māori wards law came from inside National. There’s a cancer in the Prime Minister’s own party and he needs to cut it out.
Where did Māori wards come from?
In 2001, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council became the first local authority to create Māori seats. But while all councils could do this, the Local Electoral Act of that year also allowed referendums on the issue. Until 2021, referendums defeated proposals to create Māori wards in all but two councils.
In February 2022, a new law extinguished the council’s ability to hold referendums. This law was passed by Labour with support from the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, after National and Act mounted a 10-hour filibuster to try to block it.
About 60% of the 78 district, city and regional councils will have Māori wards in place for the 2025 elections. They recognise there is no other good way to ensure Māori, the tangata whenua, are at the council table.
Voting in those wards will still take place, but those not supported in the referendums will disappear in the 2028 elections.
What about Auckland Council? It submitted to Parliament opposing the new law, although it does not have any Māori wards.
That’s because in October 2023 it voted 11-9 against them. Mayor Wayne Brown abstained. The council then voted 13-8 in favour of his suggestion to take another look in 2026.
In public consultation before that 2023 vote, the council received almost 12,000 submissions. Iwi and other Māori organisations were 87% in favour of creating Māori wards and so were 54% of individual submitters who identified as Māori.
But among those who did not identify as Māori, 68% of individuals and 54% of organisations were opposed.
Supporters tended to say equity was their main concern. They saw the parliamentary model of Māori seats, on which the council proposal was based, as the most democratic way to help with this.
Opponents argued that equality was at stake. They believed the current system was the most democratic.
During the debate, councillor Angela Dalton said that in just five days she had received 1247 emails from Hobson’s Pledge supporters. She knew it was much the same for other councillors. All those emails opposed Māori seats.
A common theme, Dalton said, was that Māori seats would allow “double dipping”, or voting twice.
But, she said, this wasn’t true. “Māori wards still only allow each constituent one vote.”
She was right. All that’s different is that people on the Māori roll cast their vote in a Māori ward, not a general ward.
Dalton quoted from the demographic breakdown of submitters. Pākehā, people aged 45-74, men and residents of wealthier suburbs were all over-represented.
The debate was heated. Councillor Josephine Bartley attacked the mayor for his intention to abstain: “There wouldn’t be an Auckland without Māori. And mayor, you’ve got to stand for something. If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.”
Chris Darby said Brown’s suggestion to delay the vote to 2026 “just fosters grievance and anger”.
But Wayne Walker said: “There’s an overwhelming tide of opposition to Māori wards from the people of Auckland.”
And there was Lotu Fuli: “This weekend the All Blacks are playing in the Rugby World Cup final. When our team does the haka, every New Zealander is going to feel proud. I just wish we could take that feeling into this.”
That would be similar to the feeling that moved Luxon at Tūrangawaewae. He waka eke noa: we’re in this together.
You can say this is merely sentimental. But these are good things that happen to us, whether it’s in the excitement of sport or the midst of grief, and we can build on them.
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