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Northern iwi are making a push to get more Māori standing for this year's local body elections, and more Māori coming out to vote for them.
Tai Tokerau Māori in Local Government symposium was held in Waitangi yesterday to look at how to achieve those goals, and also to look at some of the models for Māori representation emerging around the country.
Pita Tipene from Ngāti Hine says the vision of nationhood New Zealand is moving towards is no longer that of a little Britain in the South Pacific.
"Now we know that nationhood is going to look a lot different and all aspects of governance must reflect the people of this country and certainly in terms of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and it's no accident the symposium was held in Waitangi, we've got to change the system," he says.
Māori make up over 33 percent of the region's population, yet there are only 3 Māori Councillors out of 39 Councillors across the 4 territorial authorities and regional council.
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