A number of councillors have complained about the cost of holding referendums on Māori wards at next year’s local elections. Responding to this, ACT Local Government spokesman Cameron Luxton says:

“Activist councillors are using the cost of democracy as an excuse to grandstand against a government they don’t like while opposing the rights of their communities to have a say.

“The same councillors criticising the cost of referendums are more than happy to continue wasting money on vanity projects and international travel. Before criticising the modest cost of adding a referendum to next year’s local elections, they should look in the mirror.

“Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said the referendum was 'yet another example of expenditure that the Government is forcing on local government'. Meanwhile, his council has spent $200,000 in just two years on international flights. Ponter himself jetted off to Brisbane and the United Kingdom and stayed at the five-star Hyatt in London at a cost of $900 for a single night.

“And just last month we saw the opening of a gold-plated $2.2 million bus stop with a garden on top in Kāpiti, funded by Wellington Regional Council ratepayers.

“Of course, it's not the ratepayer money that these councillors are really concerned about. They would sooner hike rates than cut back on jaunts overseas or put an end to over-the-top bus stops.

“The reality is it is the councils themselves forcing the costs of referenda onto ratepayers. Knowing that most voters oppose separate Māori wards, they could have simply voted to disestablish them.

“ACT campaigned against Labour’s divisive Māori wards regime. Voters put us in Government with the expectation that we will keep our promises, and that's what we're doing.”

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