‘Aunties in the room’ saved six-figure legal costs - Māori councillor on value of wards

Saturday, 15 March 2025

Professor Meihana Durie, deputy vice-chancellor Māori at Massey University, speaks to Stuff about Māori wards and why Māori representation on councils is nothing to fear.

Councils could face hikes in legal costs if they dump their Māori wards, says councillor Toni Boynton. She speaks to Joel Maxwell in a series that catches up with Māori ward councillors from the four corners of the motu, sharing their thoughts in the year of the referendum.

Māori wards saved one council hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last term alone, says a councillor who is happy to be “one of the aunties in the room”.

Whakatāne’s Toni Boynton, who spoke to Stuff as part of its Māori wards series, said her council’s decision to create three Māori wards had literally saved it hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We’ve got eight iwi in our rohe and, prior to Māori wards being established, the council was in continual cases, in litigation, with iwi taking them to court regarding their decisions.”

Post-Māori wards, there have been no cases. “That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in ratepayers’ money that’s been saved in one term.”

Whakatāne Kāpū Te Rangi Māori ward councillor Toni Boynton: “I really hope that we as New Zealanders continue with what we’ve always taken pride in ... That everybody has a fair go.” (File photo)

Last year, a law change by the coalition Government forced most councils with Māori wards to either dump them, or put them to a public referendum alongside October 11 council elections.

Existing Māori wards would vanish for 2028 elections - if dumped by referendum.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced law changes last year that would force councils to either dump Māori wards or put them to community votes. (File photo)

In August last year Whakatāne voted to keep its wards - handing over the decision on their fate to their community, in October.

The meeting was a heartening one for Boynton - despite having to “justify our existence” to the other councillors.

“We weren't the first ones to speak - it was our other fellow councillors who spoke, and these were the ones who in the past had voted against Māori wards, and they were the first ones to argue that they should be retained.”

Māori were demographically “quite high” in Whakatāne, but the referendum outcome was also about actually enrolling to vote, she said.

Whakatāne will join dozens of other councils this year in holding a referendum on its Māori wards in the October council elections. (File photo)

“What we’ve always known with referendums is that for the majority of our areas it is the Pākehā vote that will win - will win it for us in the end.”

Boynton said advances in the past 50 years for Māori were thanks to the mahi of great Māori leaders, “but we didn’t do it alone”.

“Yes, we did it, and we fought hard for it, but we had our Pākehā whānau who were able to see that injustice and want to make things right.”

Māori were the last pou in the ground in processes such as resource management she said - the last bastion protecting the whenua and the ability to ensure decisions were “made for 100 years in he future, not just 10-year plans”.

Besides, she said, the wards helped make sure young Māori could see value in themselves, “and see themselves reflected in their communities, and decisions that were made”.

“I really hope that we as New Zealanders continue with what we’ve always taken pride in, which is fairness. That everybody has a fair go.”

Her experience at the council table was a good one, she said, even though there were inevitably challenging moments.

Sometimes she was asked why the Māori councillors “had to be like that aunty in the room, that goes, ‘Excuse me?’

“That’s part of the reason why we’re there.”

Boynton said she would be standing again for her ward.