Call for citizens' referendum hours after Māori ward established in New Plymouth

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Councillor Murray Chong wants to see a petition on the Māori ward.

Just hours after New Plymouth district councillors voted to establish a Māori ward a standing councillor is already calling for a petition to be started against the move.

On Tuesday, councillor Sam Bennett moved that a Maori ward be established for the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC), bypassing a recommended option of seeking community feedback.

The motion was passed 12-2, with only councillor Murray Chong and deputy mayor Richard Jordan voting against. Mayor Neil Holdom abstained from the voting.

* NPDC to consult community on Māori wards

But Chong has already put the call out for a petition to hear the views of the community, posting about it on his Facebook page at 3.25am Wednesday.

Under current legislation a petition supported by 5 per cent of the population can force a citizen-initiated binding referendum on the establishment of a Māori ward. This cannot be done for any other type of ward.

Chong said he was not a fan of wards as a whole.

“I don’t think there should be anything based on race,” Chong said.

Everyone should be under the same rules, he said.

He was keen to help instigate a petition, and his intention was to establish one himself if he could, Chong said.

“There are a lot of candidates, including Sam, that campaigned on we will listen to the public and see what they say before they make decisions.”

In 2014, the NPDC also voted to establish a Māori ward, but it was overturned a year later in a referendum.

Forty-five per cent of the voting population took part, with 83 per cent of respondents opposing it. The process resulted in considerable division in the community.

Chong said if anything, the issue could be worse this time around.

The 2014 attempt and referendum cost then-mayor Andrew Judd his job, but he hoped the community would be more accepting this time.

Judd said his first response would be to the community, not to Chong – to take a step back, digest the decision, and the exciting direction it was leading.

“The ability to have a petition is actually racist,” Judd said. “Māori wards are Treaty-based, not race -based.

“If you think it’s appropriate would you still support it if it was the other way?”

Judd said he implored people to be respectful in the debate.

“Māori now have to absorb the reaction.”

Holdom said it was a democracy and everyone had a right to express a view.

Councillor Sam Bennett said at the end of the day, they were 15 individual people sitting around the council table.

“I think that we knew that there would be a petition against this motion. It absolutely comes as no surprise.”