There’s something of a culture war over the concept of giving Māori voters or leaders a mandated equal political influence in public affairs. Critics point out that there are 22,000 voters on the Māori roll in Rotorua and 56,000 voters on the general roll, and that means voters on the Māori roll will have 2.5 times the electoral power as voters on the general roll. Instead, the decision whether to allow the council to go down the co-governance path is entirely a decision for Parliament. The local council has therefore put together a piece of legislation, The Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill, which the Government is currently pushing through Parliament. The Rotorua co-governance model could be extended to other local and national elections The idea of Māori roll voter “parity” is only being considered for the Rotorua District Council.

Source: Stuff April 21, 2022 01:34 UTC