Māori Politics - Entry of Māori To Colonial Politics

Entry of Māori To Colonial Politics

The Treaty of Waitangi, signed between various Māori iwi and the British crown, had the practical effect of transferring sovereignty to the United Kingdom. (It is debated as to whether this was the intent of the Māori, and whether this was what the treaty actually said.) Māori were granted all the rights of British subjects.

As settlement increased, the colonists became increasingly vocal in their call for self-government. Eventually, in 1852, the British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act, establishing an elected Parliament of New Zealand. Responsible government, where this Parliament had the authority to appoint Cabinet, was achieved a few years later. At first, Māori had little interest in the new Parliament, seeing it as a Pākehā institution with no real relevance to them. Later, however, there was an increasing desire by Māori to participate in Parliament — the New Zealand Land Wars of the 1860s, coupled with ongoing land seizures, convinced many Māori that the "settler Parliament" now had a major impact on them, and that their voices needed to be heard in it.

In theory, there was never any law barring Māori from election to Parliament, nor barring them from voting. In practice, however, other laws made it virtually impossible. The major stumbling block was the property qualification, which required voters to own a certain amount of land. While Māori owned a large portion of New Zealand, most of this was held in common, not under individual title. As such, few individual Māori met the property requirement personally — even if they were part-owners of vast amounts of land, they did not have any land which they owned exclusively, and so did not qualify to vote.

In 1867, however, Parliament passed the Māori Representation Act, which created four special electorates for Māori. These seats did not have a property qualification. The creation of the seats was controversial, being opposed by those Pākehā who saw Māori as uncivilised. It was also opposed by a small group which felt that by creating separate Māori electorates, Māori would be sidelined, as Pākehā politicians would not have to consult Māori opinion as they would if Māori voted in general electorates. There was also debate about the number of seats — if Māori had been given a number of seats equivalent to their population, they would have had around fifteen seats, not four. One of the more radical MPs in Parliament, James FitzGerald, actually called for Māori to be given a third of the seats in Parliament, but this was widely seen as excessive. In the end, the seats were approved based mainly on a desire to improve relations with Māori and reduce military conflict. The first Māori MPs took their seats in 1868.

It was intended that these seats would eventually be abolished as Māori abandoned traditional land ownership traditions. In the end, however, the seats were retained, and still exist today. There have, over the years, been a number of attempts to abolish them, with a number of different reasons being given — some said that reserving seats was unfair, while others said that keeping Māori electorates separate meant that Māori were marginalised and ignored by mainstream politicians. Many Māori politicians defended the electorates, saying that they were necessary to ensure Māori representation in Parliament. Other Māori leaders, however, said that the seats were not required — there have been Māori politicians who have gained election in non-Māori seats.