A South Wairarapa farmer’s public forum presentation was cut short at a council meeting after he said Māori Wards were “racist”.
Councillor Rebecca Gray, who was chairing the meeting on Wednesday, said categorising Māori wards as racist was “disrespectful and offensive” and that this would not be tolerated under meeting rules.
“That’s the end of your time now,” she said.
Jim Hedley’s presentation up to that point was about promoting the establishment of a rural ward in South Wairarapa.
“As long as council stays with existing wards, it is unlikely that council will represent all communities,” he said.
He said farmers had “an uphill battle” to be successfully elected because they currently needed to win over urban voters.
“Rural have 36 per cent of the population and so rural should have three councillors and urban five - one for each town and two at large [across urban wards].”
He then said, “I do not agree with the Māori ward. That is racism.”
Councillor Pip Maynard said it was “racist not having one”.
Appointed member Violet Edwards, from the Māori Standing Committee said it had been “180 years of racism for us”.
She then said ‘welcome to my world’ in te reo Māori.
South Wairarapa District Council will soon consult on a representation review that includes a Māori ward.
Following recently passed legislation, the council will need to reaffirm its decision to establish a ward for 2025 and run a binding poll at the next election to determine the ward’s future.
Under current South Wairarapa District Council meeting rules, the chairperson has the discretion to terminate a presentation at any time where the speaker is being “disrespectful or offensive”.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
