Kerekere ElizabethDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): Kia ora koutou. The Greens have long supported this kaupapa and it's reflected in policies across our Māori democracy and Te Tiriti o Waitangi policies. We aim to promote and support guaranteed tangata whenua participation in local governance through the establishment of Māori wards and to remove barriers to the establishment of Māori wards. In fact this bill is very similar to a Green member's bill in Marama Davidson's name that was pulled from the ballot in May 2017. It failed its first reading the following month because the combined Greens Labour and Māori Party seats at that time only totalled 48. It is of course a very different story now. Green members have also been actively involved in the movement for Māori representation on local bodies. Our new MP Teanau Tuiono fronted the Together: Kia Kotahi Mai campaign supporting Māori wards in the Palmerston North City Council and the Manawatū District Council. I can confirm that the Greens did campaign on this. It is in writing and it does speak to two of our six Māori priorities for this term that whānau hapū and iwi have a say in the decisions that affect them and being on councils certainly helps them to better assume kaitiakitanga of their whenua awa and moana. We note that the bill repeals the provisions in the Local Electoral Act 2001 that relate to polls in the establishment of Māori wards and Māori constituencies; and prohibits binding council-initiated polls on whether to establish Māori wards or Māori constituencies (while retaining the right of councils to initiate non-binding polls to gauge public sentiment); and establishes a transition period ending on 21 May 2021 in which any local council may regardless of any previous decisions or previous poll outcomes resolve to establish Māori wards or Māori constituencies for the 2022 local elections." I'm a list MP based in Gisborne and our district council recently approved the establishment of Māori wards. It was emotional sitting in that council room when that unanimous decision was announced. I was dismayed but not surprised when a well-funded organisation from outside our rohe immediately swamped the flasher areas of town with fliers starting the poll process—not where I live though in Kaiti. These polls have proved to be an almost insurmountable barrier to improving Māori representation in local government and in some cases a deterrent to local authorities considering establishing Māori wards or Māori constituencies. I look forward to councils being able to rip up those racist polls as not worth the paper they were written on. One issue the Greens would like to raise for consideration in the second stage of this work is whether only those who are on the Māori roll can vote on the Māori wards. The political decisions we make going into a general election are very different to how we might want to operate at a local level. It has been also a longstanding position of the Greens that Māori should be able to change between the general roll and the Māori roll at will and not once every five years. This is also part of an improving democracy Green member's bill in Golriz Ghahraman's name that is still in the ballot. Finally the Greens consider this bill will help strengthen the Māori Crown relationship at a local level by removing barriers to Māori participation in local elections. It is likely that more councils will establish Māori wards once this bill is passed giving Māori greater representation and voice around the council table following the 2022 local elections and into the future. We commend this bill. Kia ora."