In the light of the recent unprecedented suspension of three Te Pāti Māori MPs from Parliament (co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi for 21 days and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for 7 days) it seems timely to consider the history of Māori representation in Parliament. In a future post I will discuss the 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act, under which New Zealand’s Parliament was established. It met for the first time in Auckland (capital of the colony until 1865) in May 1854. At that time, Māori constituted a clear majority of the population and yet were effectively excluded from participating in the parliamentary system because of a property qualification based on European forms of land tenure.  All of the MPs, and nearly all of the electors, were Pākehā. That only changed after 1868 and in this post I consider the background to that move and its significance. 

By the mid-1860s the Crown had become increasingly reliant upon the support of iwi considered ‘loyalist’ or friendly, especially as British troops began to be withdrawn from the colony after 1865 and the later stages of the New Zealand Wars were fought solely by colonial troops and their Māori allies on the Crown side. It was partly the perceived need to reward these ‘loyalist’ communities that contributed to the passage of the Maori Representation Act through Parliament in 1867. 

The Maori Representation Act granted the right to vote to nearly all Māori males over the age of 21 – long ahead of Pākehā men (or Māori or Pākehā women) being extended a similar right (1879 and 1893 respectively). But the measure was intended as a temporary one, in place for five years, by which time it was expected that many Māori would have qualified on the general roll as they obtained European titles to their lands.

And at a time when, on a population basis, Māori would have been entitled to 14 or 15 seats in a Parliament of 72, the Act provided for just four dedicated seats for Māori. That number had been selected to maintain a balance between the representation of the two islands. At first it had been envisaged that the members representing the Māori seats (three in the North Island and one in the South) would be Pākehā. But that was rejected by South Island MPs upset at the change in the balance of power that might result. And so the Bill was amended to require those standing for the seats to be Māori only. It was only in 1967 that non-Māori were legally able to stand in the Māori seats. 

Many of the features that became key elements of voting in the general seats, including secret ballots, electoral rolls, electorate boundaries determined broadly by population and same-day voting throughout the country were only belatedly introduced with respect to the Māori seats. A secret ballot was provided for in 1937, for example, nearly half a century after the same protocol had been stipulated in the general seats. There was no substantial alteration to the electoral boundaries until 1954.

And until 1975 Māori did not have a choice as to whether to vote in the general or Māori seats: they could only do so in the latter. Meanwhile, those deemed to be less than ‘half caste’ were only able to participate in the general seats until the same year. Identification as Māori was in this way affixed by the state prior to the 1970s rather than being self-selecting.