OPINION: Māori Wards means a better democracy

Democracy works best when those in power reflect the population. The Taupō East Wards ensures our rural community has their voice heard, and their needs reflected on council. The Papamārearea Ward is no different.

By Tredegar Rangiatea Hall

Currently, the Ward is working well to reflect our people. Just under a third (30%) of the Taupō District’s population are Māori. Roughly half of those are on the Māori roll. That equates to two seats out of 12.

Not only are we a big portion of the population, we have a lot of land. A whopping 50% of all land in the district is Māori land. So that means we’re disproportionately impacted by any environmental policies, yet we have historically not had our views represented on council. Māori Wards introduced in 2022 changed that.

But what do these councillors bring that’s different to other councillors?

It’s a matter of skills and knowledge.

The Taupō District Council makes decisions that affect the environment every day - creating new or upgrading roading, pipes, wastewater, public spaces - which affect our lake, rivers and land.

As the local iwi who’ve been in the area continuously for over 2000 years, Tūwharetoa knows a thing or two about how the environment functions. We have hapū (sub-tribes) across the area from Nukuhau to Tūrangi, who have their own environmental issues, but also hold the solutions. They just need fair representation for a safe space of cultural understanding and cultural diversity to bring traditional ecological knowledge, Taupō’s unique history and special places into policy designing spaces.

At the heart of it all we want the same thing - to be able to drink from, swim or fish in our local rivers and lakes. We want to continue to have the beautiful environment that makes Taupō the home we all know and love.

You’ve probably heard people talk about kaitiakitanga, or guardianship. It’s the overarching principle that guides how Māori engage with the environment. It means we don’t have control over the environment, instead, our role is to take actions that support the environment to flourish - because that in turn will support us all to flourish.

So let’s ensure our council has the right knowledge and skills for a thriving environment. Let’s vote together to KEEP Māori Wards.

Tredegar Rangiātea Hall (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa) is director of Tāmore Ltd, a environmental consultancy working with resource management and major infrastructure projects to honour Te Mana o Te Wai.