Dr Mawera Karetai

I refer to Keith Melville’s opinion piece in the Beacon on September 5, “The need for race relations to be open”.

The first thing that made me shake my head was his use of the far-right catch cry “one-person-one-vote”.

Time and time again Māori have had to explain that if you are on the Māori roll, you get one voting paper, the same as if you are on the general roll.

The only people in our community who get more than one voting paper are those who own multiple properties across wards.

If you own a property in Waimana, and Matatā, and rent or own the house you live in, in another part of the district, then you would get three votes.

To try make this very clear, I have made a simple table, pictured below, using the Whakatane/Ōhope and Kāpū-te-rangi wards. Kāpū-te-rangi includes the Whakatāne/Ōhope area – maps are on the Whakatāne District Council website.

The left side shows who you get to vote for in the Whakatāne/Ōhope ward if you are on the general roll. The right side shows who you get to vote for in the Kāpū-te-rangi ward if you are on the Māori roll.

No one gets to be on both rolls. You are on one, or you are on the other.

As you can see from the table, regular people, whether on the Māori or general roll get one voting paper. There is only one difference between the two rolls, and that is for the representative for councillor. That’s it.

To your second assertion, Mr Melville.

There is no time warp in our race relations. There is instead a lack of real conversation about the impact of all these years of colonisation on Māori, and the intergenerational suffering that does not go away without addressing it.

One of the problems that has come out of colonisation is that the systems that have been set up were not set up for Māori.

In fact, history tells us that the systems were mostly set up to exclude Māori, and they have not changed enough to change the outcomes.

It was not until 1975 that the Māori electoral option was established, which enabled Māori to choose which roll we wanted to be on.

This is the tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) that was promised under te Tirti.

In 1975, I was four years old. My father did not vote. He said there was no point, and that the government would not listen to Māori.

I have always voted, and I know my children will.

My generation is the most likely since colonisation to engage in our democracy, and our children will be more likely than us.

Young Māori voter turnout (ages 18-24) increased: from 54.9 percent in 2014, to 61.8 percent in 2017, to 69.7 percent in 2020, and 70.3 percent in 2023.

The problem of a lack of engagement will be solved with time, and Māori wards.

Without Māori wards, there is no reason for many Māori to vote.  Without Māori wards, all the Māori who stand, stand against all the candidates, and with the low Māori voter turnout that is the inevitable impact of having no Māori wards, the few votes that Māori receive are split and the numbers are never enough.

I know some would argue that we have people in general wards who whakapapa Māori, and they are right, we do. But there is a big difference between simply identifying as Māori and living as tūturu Māori – Māori in practice, in values, in cultural practice and in embracing reo Māori.

This distinction is not limited to Māori; you will find it in all indigenous cultures who have been colonised. It is not a criticism – it is a reality of life.

The current councillors who have sat with Māori ward councillors for the last three years will tell you (if you ever ask), that it is the culture and connection of Māori that has added value at the council table.  

Māori are over being told how to feel.  

Instead of telling, ask. Or listen when we tell you. We are tired of being told what is best for us by people who aren’t us.

And lastly, referring to people as “part” or “mixed” Māori divides and demeans.

Which part of a tangata māori (intentional small “m” – meaning normal person) is Māori?  

Which part isn’t Māori.

What part or mix are non-Māori New Zealanders, English people, or Australian people?

No, that kind of language is an example of why so many Māori stopped being connected to whānau, and hapū, and why people hid their cultural identity.

Until that language disappears and until we can have real conversations about why Māori don’t vote, then we need wards.

I don’t think we need them forever. But we need them now, more than ever.