Māori wards: We’re all in this together — Andrew Judd
Our team at ActionStation asked Andrew Judd to write a piece for our members about Māori wards, considering his strong advocacy on this issue over the years. We found his words so thoughtful and powerful, and asked if we could share it beyond our members. Nei rā te mihi ki a Andrew, i tō mahi rangatira. You give us hope for a better future. We encourage everyone to vote to keep Māori wards before October 11th.
Kia ora e hoa,
I want to begin with honesty.
There was a time when I was against all things Māori, let alone a Māori seat at a council table. I believed that old line, “we’re all one,” thinking it was fair, without realising it erased cultural identities and unique world views.
To my shame, I even carried those views into public office when I was elected Mayor of New Plymouth in 2013.
How wrong I was.
It took an extraordinarily uncomfortable process of self-reflection to realise I had been raised in a country that rewarded ingrained racism, and that I was, in fact, racist. Not in an overt way, but in the quiet, systemic ways that shaped my views of the world.
In 2014, as Mayor, I led a council that voted to establish a Māori ward. I knew it was the right thing to do under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but I didn’t anticipate the public backlash. Nothing could have prepared me for being spat on in the street, abused every day, and ultimately choosing to walk away from public office.
And yet, I have never regretted it.
That stand has come to define me far more than any office or title ever could. Because it taught me that real leadership isn’t about keeping power, it’s about doing what is right, even when it costs you everything.
For more than a decade, I have called myself a “recovering racist,” and I have championed Māori wards across the motu.
At times it has not been an easy journey, but I am grateful. Grateful because the path I’ve walked has allowed me to see Aotearoa with new eyes.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
I now understand what Te Tiriti really asks of us. It doesn’t ask for charity or tokenism, it asks us to live in true partnership. It asks us to recognise Māori as tangata whenua, the first peoples of this land, with enduring rights to their whenua, culture, and voice. It asks the Crown, and all of us who inherit its responsibilities, to act as partners not masters. To govern with Māori, not over Māori. To uphold tino rangatiratanga alongside kāwanatanga, so both Māori and Tangata Tiriti can thrive.
In the simplest terms, Te Tiriti asks us to stand shoulder to shoulder, paddling the waka together, so Aotearoa can be the nation it was always meant to be.
Māori wards
Since 2014 I have been one of thousands who have campaigned for Māori wards to be treated the same as any other ward a council establishes. Together we called for an end to the rule that allowed only Māori wards to be overturned by public poll.
In 2021, that became a reality. In the months that followed, 42 councils around Aotearoa voted to establish Māori wards, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Mayors spoke of the benefits of having Māori voices at the table, councils strengthened relationships with iwi, even emergency services praised the work of Māori ward councillors during natural disasters.
But all that changed in 2024, when the Coalition Government rolled back the law change, undoing years of hard mahi and putting the inclusion of Māori voices at risk once again.
And so here we are. Right now, our country is being asked to decide whether Māori wards should continue to exist on 42 councils around Aotearoa.
The referendum
Let’s be honest: this referendum should never exist.
When the majority gets to decide whether the Indigenous minority can sit at the table, that isn’t democracy at its best. That is domination. That is colonisation with a new face.
It’s like letting two foxes and one hen vote on what’s for dinner.
Māori voices have been fighting for generations just to be included. And now, through this referendum, their very right to be at the table is back on trial.
It should trouble all of us that Māori still have to prove, again and again, that their voices belong in the rooms where decisions are made.
Because the truth is painful: our system is still eurocentric, when it needs to be Te Tiriti-centric.
Seeds of hope
Yet I do not write this out of despair. I write with hope.
Because when councils have taken the step to establish Māori wards, they have seen enormous benefits.
Māori wards bring balance and fairness to our councils. For too long, decisions about Māori were made without Māori. Wards ensure tangata whenua have a guaranteed voice at the table, not as tokens, but as partners. When that voice is present, decisions are wiser, more grounded in the whenua, and more reflective of the whole community.
Councils with Māori wards report stronger relationships, greater trust, and richer conversations that lead to better outcomes for everyone. More than 50 mayors and chairs have spoken publicly in support of keeping them.
They also strengthen democracy. Since 2019, there has been a 22 per cent increase in Māori participation and representation in local and regional government. More Māori are standing as candidates. More Māori are voting. That’s exactly what democracy should do, encourage more people to take part, not fewer.
These numbers tell a story. Once the seeds of representation were planted, they began to grow. Councils that once debated Māori wards are now defending them. Because they have seen the fruit.
And so the question becomes: why would we pull those seedlings out now, just as they are beginning to thrive?
The mirror
If you are Pākehā like me, I ask you to pause and imagine this. Imagine being told that your voice in your own country was conditional on a public vote. Imagine having to explain to your tamariki or mokopuna that their place at the table was being decided by strangers.
How would you feel if it was your identity, your voice, your future on the line? How do you think Kate Sheppard would vote in this referendum?
To be children of the Treaty means showing up when it counts. It means refusing to look away. If we can’t see the colonisation in this process, then maybe it’s time to ask if we can see the colonisation in ourselves.
Why Māori wards matter
Māori wards are not the final destination.
The destination is a truly Treaty-centric Aotearoa, where Te Tiriti is honoured in every council chamber, every boardroom, every classroom.
But Māori wards are one of the best tools we have right now. They are not perfect, but they are progress. They are a paddle in the water that helps move the waka forward.
And when we paddle together, Māori and Tangata Tiriti, side by side, the waka does not spin in circles. It moves forward, steady and strong.
The invitation
This referendum is not only about a box on a ballot. It’s about who we are, and who we want to be.
Your pen is powerful. With one stroke, you can affirm justice. With one voice, you can shape the nation we will pass on to our future generations.
So I invite you, not just to vote yes, but to be part of something bigger.
Be the person who paddles the waka forward. Be the person who sows the seeds of justice. Be the person who, years from now, can look your grandchildren in the eyes and say: “When it mattered, I stood for what was right.”
As the whakataukī reminds us:
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
With your food basket and mine, the people will thrive.
Together, we can ensure Māori voices are not silenced. Together, we can grow something better for all of us. Together, we can make this nation the one it was always meant to be.
He waka eke noa. We are all in this waka together.
Mauri ora,
Andrew Judd
