Hutt councillor Gabriel Tupou says the city’s decision to press ahead with a Māori ward reflects the true sentiment of the community.
The council voted last year to create a ward for the 2025 election, and last Friday it confirmed that choice, even though it means also holding a referendum which means the seat could be dropped in 2028.
One councillor, a former council chief executive, abstained but said the original decision was made democratically.
Mr Tupou says the council had been deluged with emails opposing the ward from supporters of Hobson’s Pledge, but those people did not turn to speak on the kaupapa on Friday.
“On a number of issues in our community we have the racists coming out of the woodwork but they are only keyboard warriors,”he says.
The push now will be to register Māori voters and get them to turn out in next year’s election to vote the referendum down.
