Waatea News Column: The Māori Roll could unleash Māori political aspiration like no other event
One of the most significant changes to NZ Politics occurred with very little fanfare last week, and that was the new rules around changing from General Roll to the Māori Roll.
Previously the process was a bureaucratic hurdle and had to occur 4 tears before an election. The changes now allow Māori to simply fill in an online form up until 3 months before the next general election.
This has the potential to unleash Māori Political Aspiration in this country that will finally resemble real co-governance. If every Māori in NZ went on to the Māori Roll, the Māori Electorates would go from 7 to 13!
13 Electorate seats would cement into NZ Politics an authentic Māori voice in decision-making, unlike any other current suggestion.
Over 50% of the Māori population are currently on the Māori Roll, previous attempts to reach out have always been hampered by socio-economic factors, however, social media has ubiquitous access to many and a well-funded social media campaign between now and the cut-off date of 13th July could begin a new march towards the creation of new Māori electorates.
If enough Māori swap to the Māori Electorate, they will create new electorates for the 2026 election.
The solution to gaining the political promise of the Treaty has been inside the current MMP rules for over a quarter of a century.
First published on Waatea News.
I see you were right about the census being another flop.One in 5 no form 2 in 5 of Maori.
I was shocked when interviewed an 18 year old university student did not know anything about it .I thought the adverts were good but obviously they were not exclusive enough to get more people up to speed.
Yes, our people need to get themselves on the Māori roll. I have always been on it however as soon as we get any power, we will see a huge Pakeha/white backlash as power sharing and decision making is something our colonizers do not want to relinquish.
Yes, our people need to get themselves on the Māori roll. I have always been on it however as soon as we get any power, we will see a huge Pakeha/white backlash as power sharing and decision making is something our colonizers do not want to relinquish.
Yes, our people need to get themselves on the Māori roll. I have always been on it however as soon as we get any power, we will see a huge Pakeha/white backlash as power sharing and decision making is something our colonisers do not want to relinquish.
Yes, our people need to get themselves on the Māori roll. I have always been on it however as soon as we get any power, we will see a huge Pakeha/white backlash as power sharing and decision making is something our colonizers do not want to relinquish.
Say it again. I didn’t quite catch it the first time.
I’m cautiously optimistic this could work out. With a younger demographic, Māori youth increasingly confident in their identity and the zeitgeist tilting towards Māori culture. Pragmatically speaking Boomer and Gen X pensions are going to be dependant on the wealth created the generation most influenced by these changes so if for no other reason, we must hope for and support it going smoothly.
Cautious because a renaissance or Māori language and culture has to guard against being co-opted by neoliberalism or ideological colonisation by american neomarxism. In addition as globalisation collapses it’s difficult to predict the second and third order consequences economically or culturally.
There are significant headwinds but I’m quietly confident that NZ/AO is up to the task.