Most Councillors vote back Maori wards

More than half the newly elected Hamilton City Councillors back the referendum decision to retain Māori wards.

A poll carried out by Wintec journalism students before the election had six successful candidates backing Māori wards, with one saying she would support the result of the voters.

Councillors who voted in support were Maria Huata, Emma Pike, Sarah Thomson, Rachel Karalus, Jamie Strange, and Leo Liu.

Mesh Macdonald, who was successful in Hamilton West did not think the question about Māori wards was relevant to the election because candidates had only one vote and should abide by what the community decided.

That was a view echoed elsewhere by incoming mayor Tim Macindoe – taking the total to eight out of 15.

Five of the successful candidates did not respond to the poll, including successful Māori ward candidate Robbie Neha.

Some of the unsuccessful candidates who voted against the wards Allan McKie and Michael West who said the ward system should be reviewed, while Preeti Dhaliwal and Rudi du Plooy said they didn’t support them as believed in equal rights to stand for councils based on merit.

In Hamilton, 38,063 residents voted in the local body polls – 50%  per cent voted to support the wards, 43%  per cent were opposed – and 6.7 per cent did not fill the referendum section out. Eighteen responses were considered invalid.

Three of Hamilton city’s neighbours, Waipa, Waikato and Matamata-Piako district councils, voted to remove Māori wards.

The poll did not affect the existing two Waikato Regional Council seats.

Mercy Chepkoech, is an International Student studying the NZ Diploma in Journalism.