Māori electorates

Early attempts at Māori representation

The first New Zealand Parliament was elected in 1853 and responsible government was obtained in the subsequent term. To vote for a member of Parliament, an elector had to be male, a subject of the monarch, have title to land worth at least 25 pounds, and not be in prison. The property-ownership requirement was a barrier to Māori voting because the land they owned was held in common and not by Crown grant; native title was not accepted as a way to assert a right to the franchise. There was concern, however, that, these rules ran contrary to Article III of the Treaty of Waitangi which made all Māori subjects of the monarch with corresponding voting and representation rights.^[7][8]

Māori were not then a minority of the population of New Zealand. Provincial statistics from 1853 reported 31,272 Europeans and 56,400 Māori. However, they had been seen by Governor Grey as, in Paul Moon's description, "obstacles to the civilised advancement of the colony." Moon reports that the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 allowed for "a degree" of Māori political autonomy and for Māori to live as they always had done in certain parts of the country, but political leaders like William Fox and John Godley believed Māori would soon be extinct and should not be given rights.^[9]

None of the first three parliaments included any Māori members and discussions in Parliament assumed that Europeans could provide representation for Māori who were "not yet sufficiently educated" to be elected.^[10] However, Māori representation was identified as a means to pacify Māori and quell emerging separatist movements.^[9] In the third parliament, James FitzGerald sought the fair representation of Māori in both the House of Representatives and Legislative Council, but his motion in August 1862 failed 20–17.^[11] A select committee inquiry in 1863 recommended that two electorates be created for Māori. These did not eventuate, but three reserved seats for goldminers (Gold Fields, Gold Field Towns and Westland Boroughs) were created in 1862, 1865 and 1866.

FitzGerald's views on Māori representation were explained in an 1865 letter to James Crowe Richmond, a member of the Legislative Council:^[12]

1. To expect men to respect law who don't enjoy it is absurd. 2. To try and govern a folk by our courts and at the same time to say that our courts shall take no cognisance of their property is amazing folly. Two-thirds of the Northern Island is held under a tenure which is ignored by our law. Is it possible to govern any people by a law which does not recognize their estate in land?

In 1865, Newton MP George Graham moved unsuccessfully for a universal male franchise for Māori (if Graham had been successful, Māori could have voted for five European members tasked with specifically representing Māori).^[9][10] FitzGerald, now Minister for Native Affairs, avoided making changes to the franchise and instead created a system for individualising Māori land titles so that Māori men could meet the property-ownership requirement.^[10] He also established a Native Commission that included membership of 35 Māori and five Europeans.^[9][13] The premier Frederick Weld hoped FizGerald's Commission would become a "kind of constituent assembly" of Māori chiefs, but it was never fully implemented and was quickly abandoned after the collapse of the Weld ministry by incoming minister Andrew Russell.^[10]

1867 establishment

Māori representation was granted during the term of the 4th Parliament. Napier MP Donald McLean introduced a Maori Representation Bill with the purpose of enfranchising Māori who were indirectly excluded from voting by the land ownership requirement and providing for four Māori electorates. The bill passed after a lengthy debate during a period of warfare between the government and some North Island Māori hapū.^[14] It was seen as a way to reduce conflict between cultures.^[15][16]

The Act originally agreed to set up four electorates specially for Māori; three in the North Island and one covering the whole South Island. The four seats were a fairly modest concession on a per-capita basis at the time. Fair representation proportionate to the size of settler electorates, which each served around 3,500 people,^[17] would have entitled the then 60,000 Māori to 20 seats.^[9][18][19] However, the number four was selected to restore an equality of representatives between the two islands.^[19] FitzGerald and others regarded the concessions given to Māori as insufficient, while others disagreed. In the end, the setting up of Māori electorates separate from existing electorates and without significant ability for political influence assuaged the conservative opposition to the bill.^[9][10] The first Māori elections were held in the following year and the new members entered the 4th Parliament mid-term. Māori elections continued to be held separately from general elections until 1951, usually one day prior.

Moon records reaction of Māori communities to the establishment of the seats as "not one of unreserved enthusiasm."^[9] Government reports from 1868 identified apathy and indifference. In the first Māori elections held that year, two members were elected unopposed and a third by a show of hands.^[20][21][22] It was suggested that either Māori did not understand the benefits of representation, or the pan-tribal nature of the Māori electorates did not support trust in the system.^[9] Māori MPs' low level of influence may also have been a factor. Sociologist Augie Fleras describes the introduction of Māori representation not as an act of benevolence but as "a politically deceptive strategy of indirect control which ... gerrymandered [Māori] to the point where they became, and remained, a permanently outvoted minority in a political system designed to suit majority interests."^[19]

The historian Alan Ward described the seats as having "stumbled into being."^[10][23] They were intended as a temporary measure lasting five years, giving specific representation to Māori until the land ownership issue was resolved. However, they were extended in 1872 and sunset clauses were removed in 1876.^[24] Fleras identifies the removal of the property qualification in 1893 as the moment when Māori electorates became enduring.^[19] Despite numerous attempts to dismantle Māori electorates, they continue to form a distinctive feature of the New Zealand political system.^[14][18][25]

Until 1996

The first four Māori electorates were named after compass points and existed for 129 years.^[26] Northern Māori ran from Cape Reinga to the Manukau Harbour. Western Māori and Eastern Māori divided the rest of the North Island, meeting at the Ruahine Range. Southern Māori was for the entire South Island. The electorate populations were not balanced and do not appear to have been initially recorded. Political scientist Alan McRobie approximated that after the March 1874 census there would have been about 16–17,000 people in Eastern Māori and Western Māori, about 10,000 in Northern Māori, and less than 2,000 in Southern Māori.^[27] Balance between Māori and European representation, or between each of the Māori electorates, was not considered for some time and few changes were made between 1867 and 1996. During this time, the number of total electorates increased from 76 to 99 but the number of Māori electorates remained fixed at four.^[28] The number of electorates was originally intended to restore equality between the number of electorates across both islands, but was also a deliberate attempt to underrepresent Māori.^[19]

The boundary between Western Māori and Eastern Māori was adjusted for the 1919 election and the Chatham Islands Māori population was included in Western Māori from 1922. By the 1951 census, only 3,959 Māori were recorded in the South Island compared to 111,512 in the North Island, who continued to be divided unevenly between the three electorates. For the 1954 election, the northern boundary for Southern Māori was extended into the North Island, picking up the cities of Wellington, Masterton, Palmerston North and Napier. These boundary changes were made by Acts of Parliament.^[27]

It was not until the boundary redistribution for the 1984 election that the impartial Representation Commission which had historically drawn general electorate boundaries was given responsibility for Māori electorates. By this time Māori had for eight years been able to change to the general roll so the Māori electorates came to be for those opting into separate representation. The Commission received calls to adopt Māori names for the electorates, but was not able to do so. The Commission was also unable to increase the number of seats, but for the first time the populations in each electorate were near-equal with approximately 35,000 people represented by each electorate.^[27] While the four seats had coincidentally provided proportionate representation in the late 1980s, the Commission's chairman wrote in his 1992 report on representation arrangements that there was now sufficient population for a fifth electorate and "legislative amendment should seriously be considered."^[29] This was achieved with the adoption of the Electoral Act 1993 alongside New Zealand's move to the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system.

During this period, the Māori electorates were the primary mechanism for Māori to be elected to Parliament. By 1 October 1993, the 140th anniversary of the first election to the New Zealand, only six Māori (the former Eastern Māori MP James Carroll, Rex Austin, Ben Couch, Winston Peters, Ian Peters and Clem Simich) had been elected through the general electorates.^[30][31]

Since 1996

With the introduction of the MMP electoral system after 1993, the rules regarding the Māori electorates changed. Today, the number of electorates floats, meaning that the electoral population of a Māori seat can remain roughly equivalent to that of a general seat. The calculation for the number of electorates is:

${\displaystyle {\mathsf {{\text{Number of Māori electorates}}={\frac {\text{Māori electoral population}}{\text{quota for South Island general electorates}}}}}}$

The quota for South Island general electorates is found by dividing the South Island general electoral population by 16, which is the fixed number of electorates for the South Island.^[32] The quota represents the approximate number of people, plus or minus 5 per cent, who should be contained in each electorate.

For the 1996 election, the first under MMP, the Electoral Commission defined five Māori electorates, for the first time with Māori names: Te Puku O Te Whenua (The belly of the land), Te Tai Hauauru (The western district), Te Tai Rawhiti (The eastern district), Te Tai Tokerau (The northern district), and Te Tai Tonga (The southern district).

A sixth Māori electorate was added for the second MMP election in 1999, with compensatory boundary changes to ensure the electorates still covered an equal population: the new electorates Hauraki, Ikaroa-Rawhiti, and Waiariki joined Te Tai Hauāuru, Te Tai Tokerau and Te Tai Tonga.

Since 2002, there have been seven Māori electorates which have used the same names since 2008. From north to south they are:

1. Te Tai Tokerau – northernmost seat, including Whangārei, northern Auckland and parts of western Auckland.
2. Tāmaki Makaurau – southern and central Auckland, and parts of western Auckland.
3. Hauraki-Waikato – north-western North Island, including Hamilton and Papakura (replaced Tainui in 2008).
4. Waiariki – includes Tauranga, Whakatāne, Rotorua, Taupō.
5. Ikaroa-Rāwhiti – eastern and southern North Island, including Gisborne and Masterton.
6. Te Tai Hauāuru – western and southern North Island, including Taranaki and Manawatū-Whanganui regions, Kapiti and Porirua.
7. Te Tai Tonga – all of the South Island, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, and most of Wellington.

While seven out of 72 (9.7%) does not nearly reflect the proportion of voting-age New Zealanders who identify as being of Māori descent (about 14.8%), many Māori choose to enrol in general electorates, so the proportion reflects the proportion of voters on the Māori roll. In 2022, Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online published research showing "Māori who also identify as Pākehā are less likely to opt for the Māori roll, but those who know their iwi, are comfortable in Māori social surroundings, feel a spiritual connection to land and the presence of their ancestors in their lives, or feel the drive to be respected as Indigenous, are more likely to choose the Māori roll."^[33]

Māori Party co-leader Pita Sharples proposed in 2007 the creation of an additional Māori electorate for Māori living in Australia; there are between 115,000 and 125,000 Māori in Australia, the majority living in Queensland.^[34] It was claimed in 2026 that there was sufficient population for an eighth electorate although this reached in time for the boundary review completed in 2025.^[35]

Early representatives

New Zealand did not have defined political parties until the late 19th century. The first four Māori members of parliament, elected in 1868, were all independents. Tāreha Te Moananui (Eastern Maori), Frederick Nene Russell (Northern Maori) and John Patterson (Southern Maori) all retired in 1870 and Mete Kīngi Te Rangi Paetahi (Western Maori) was defeated in 1871. These four men were also the first New Zealand-born members of the New Zealand Parliament.^[36] The second four members were the independents Karaitiana Takamoana (Eastern Maori), Wi Katene (Northern Maori), Hōri Kerei Taiaroa (Southern Maori), and Wiremu Parata (Western Maori).^[37]

The first Māori woman MP was Iriaka Rātana, who represented the Western Maori electorate. Like Elizabeth McCombs, New Zealand's first woman MP, Rātana won the seat in a by-election caused by the death of her husband Matiu in 1949.^[38]

Party politics

When the Liberal Party formed, however, Māori MPs began to align themselves with the new organisation, with either Liberal candidates or Liberal sympathisers as representatives. Māori MPs in the Liberal Party included James Carroll, Āpirana Ngata and Te Rangi Hīroa. There were also Māori MPs in the more conservative and rural Reform Party; Māui Pōm, Taurekareka Hēnare and Taite Te Tomo.

The Labour Party dominated the Māori electorates in the two-party era of 1935 to 1996. For a long period this dominance owed much to Labour's alliance with the Rātana Church, although the Rātana influence has diminished in recent times. Labour won three Māori electorates in the 1938 election and all four for the first time in the 1943 election. Sir Āpirana Ngata's 1938–43 term remains the last time a National Party candidate won a Māori seat; Labour won every Māori electorate in each election until 1990.^[30]

In the 1993 election, Tau Henare of New Zealand First won Northern Māori; his party captured all five Māori electorates in the 1996 election. Labour regained all the Māori electorates in the following 1999 election and held them until 2004 when its dominance was challenged by the Māori Party.^[7]

Te Tai Hauāuru MP Tariana Turia quit Labour over the foreshore and seabed controversy in 2004 and returned to parliament the same year leading the new Māori Party which she co-founded. Her party won four seats in 2005 and five in 2008, before gradually losing its electorates to Labour over time and winning no seats in 2017. However, in the 2023 general election, the rebranded Te Pāti Māori won a record six of the seven Māori electorates, unseating Labour from all but one of the seats.^[39] Because the number of electorates won by Te Pāti Māori in 2023 was greater than the number it won through the party vote, an overhang was created. The ability for Māori electorates to create an overhang means they can be perceived as strategically significant.^[40][41]

Māori Electoral Option

Between 1975 and 2023, registered Māori electors had the opportunity to choose whether they are included on the Māori or general electorate rolls.^[45] Before 1975, registration was based on blood quantum. Māori were limited to being on the Māori roll although "half-castes" (as the law described them) could choose between either roll from 1896.^[46] Roll changes were limited to a three-month period after each five-yearly census. Now, Māori electors can change rolls at any time, except in the three months preceding a general or local election or after a notice of vacancy is issued for a by-election.^[5] Each five-yearly census and Māori Electoral Option determines the number of Māori electorates for the next one or two elections.

In June 2022, the Justice Minister Kris Faafoi of the incumbent Labour Party introduced a bill to allow people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori electoral rolls at any time. At the time, Māori were only allowed to switch between the two rolls every five years. To pass into law, the bill needed 75% majority support in Parliament. In addition, Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi introduced a member's bill which proposed automatically placing Māori on the Māori electoral roll and renaming the "general electoral district" the "non-Māori electoral district."^[47]

On 15 November 2022, the opposition National Party abandoned its opposition to the Māori Electoral Option bill after the Labour Government agreed to allow people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori rolls at any time except the three-month period before general and local elections; giving the Government the 75% majority need to pass the bill into law. Te Pāti Māori criticised the compromise, with Waititi and fellow co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer describing the changes as "second-rate" and a "half pie ka pai" respectively. Waititi's member bill had already been voted down in early November.^[48]

The Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Act 2022 came into force on 31 March 2023; allowing people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori rolls at anytime until the three-month period before elections. The Electoral Commission subsequently launched a campaign to encourage non-voters to register with either the general or Māori rolls.^[49] For the 2023 New Zealand general election, the cutoff date was set at midnight 13 July 2023.^[50] By 3 July 2023, over 12,000 people had switched between the Māori and general rolls; with 6,662 people shifting from the general to Māori rolls and 5,652 switching vice versa.^[51] Political expert and academic Rawiri Taonui and journalist Tommy de Silva described that the increase of voters on the Māori roll as a form of strategic voting that reinforced the relevance of the Māori seats and Māori vote to New Zealand politics.^[52][53]

By 11 July 2025, the Electoral Commission confirmed that almost 31,000 voters had switched to the Māori electoral roll while over 25,000 first time voters had registered with the Māori roll. By contrast, about 20,000 Māori descent voters had switched to the general roll while 17,000 new Māori voters had registered with the general roll. Commission chief Māori advisor Hone Matthews credited the 2022 law change with removing a barrier for Māori voters and boosting their electoral engagement.^[54] On 31 July, Te Pāti Māori filed urgent High Court proceedings calling on the Electoral Commission, Ministry of Justice and the Ombudsman to investigate reports that Māori voters had been removed from the Māori electoral roll or shifted to the general roll without their consent.^[55]

Mid-20th century

In 1953, re-alignment of Māori electoral boundaries occurred. In the 1950s the practice of reserving electorates for Māori was described by some politicians "as a form of 'apartheid', like in South Africa".^[56]

In 1967, the electoral system whereby four electorate seats were reserved for representatives who were specifically Māori ended. Following the Electoral Amendment Act 1967, the 100-year-old disqualification preventing Europeans from standing as candidates in Māori electorates was removed. Simultaneously, the act allowed Māori to stand in general electorates.^[57]

In 1976, the National Government introduced the option for Māori to decide whether to enrol individually on the general electoral roll or the Māori roll.^[27] A large number of people (Māori and non-Māori) failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card that was distributed with the 1976 census, with census staff lacking authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for non-Māori, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in.^[27]

The Royal Commission on the Electoral System's report Towards a Better Democracy proposed abolishing the Māori electorates, with Māori parties instead receiving representation even if they did not pass the 4 per cent representation threshold proposed for mixed member proportional representation.^[58] In the implementation of the report through the Electoral Act 1993, Māori electorates were retained and the threshold was raised to 5 per cent.

Current positions

Hobson's Pledge, a lobby group founded by Don Brash, a former senior politician, advocates abolishing the allocated Māori electorates, seeing them as outdated.^[59] Other parties' positions on abolition or reform are detailed below.

Australia

In 1995, MLC Franca Arena moved the Parliament of New South Wales to an inquiry and report on the idea of providing seats dedicated to people of Aboriginal background, modelled on the Māori electorates, to improve the representation of Indigenous Australians in that parliament.^[71] The Standing Committee on Social Issues, of which she was not part, released a report on the merits of the system in November 1998.^[72] The report is said to have been well-researched, with a thorough discussion of the system's mechanics, and through which paths it could come to fruition.^[73] The NSW Government members, however, did not conclude the proposal appropriate and leaned towards other measures to facilitate Aboriginal representation.^[72]

Another report was released in 2003 by the Legislative Assembly of Queensland's Legal, Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee,^[73] as part of an inquiry on how to improve indigenous self-determination. The idea of dedicated seats in the State Parliament, while deemed to have potential to assist reconciliation efforts, was not recommended in the final report due to strong opposition from some members of the committee.^[73]