Napier Māori wards consultation deadline extended

Published: 8 September 2021

Last Updated: 9 September 2021

Consultation on whether to have Māori wards as part of Napier City Council from the 2025 local body elections have been extended by a week to Friday 17 September.

The Government has made changes to let local councils decide whether or not to have Māori wards in their city or district.

Māori wards allow voters on the Māori roll to elect representatives to councils, in a similar way to Māori seats in Parliament. How many wards a city or district has is decided by a formula in the Local Election Act, based on the ratio of Māori electoral population to the total electoral population. If we go ahead with Māori wards, based on this formula, Napier will have two Māori ward members.

We have received hundreds of submissions so far, but given we have just been through another lockdown, people‘s focus may have been elsewhere, says Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise.

“If you’re unsure what Māori wards are about, I encourage you to visit our consultation website where you can find all the background information you need to help you with your submission. You can also view the community hui, which we had to hold online because of Covid restrictions.”

It is important to hear from everyone in our community before making a decision, she says.

Māori wards information can be found at sayitnapier.nz

Council is expected to consider the submissions next month. If Council is in favour of Māori wards this will be included in the Representation Review to be held in 2024.

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