The involvement of the indigenous Maori people in New Zealand's electoral system is one of the most remarkable stories in this country's political history.
Origins - the Maori War Effort Organisation
The MWEO is established
Unable to help with identifying Maori recruits, the Native Department referred the issue to the MP for Western Maori, Paraire Paikea, who chaired the Maori parliamentary committee.
Assisted by two other Ratana-Labour MPs, Eruera Tirikatene and H.T. Ratana, Paikea drafted a scheme for an organisation to handle Maori recruitment and war-related activities. He won Maori support by stressing the organisation's political potential. On 3 June 1942 the government approved the establishment of the Maori War Effort Organisation.
With all tribes involved, the MWEO provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate Maori capacity for leadership and planning. The country was divided into 21 zones and 315 tribal committees were formed; one or two members from each committee joined one of 41 executive committees. Committee work was voluntary and received no government funding. The Maori parliamentary committee insisted that the MWEO follow Maori custom in the selection of 20 Maori recruiting officers to help coordinate the activities of its committees. In July 1942 Cabinet agreed that this principle of tribal leadership should be extended to territorial units in New Zealand and to the Home Guard.
Difficult times - the Maori War Effort Organisation
Threats to continuation
When the Maori War Effort Organisation was established, the government had estimated that it would have a six-month life at a cost of £7,000. In 1943 Paikea asked that the timeframe be extended. He reasoned that as well as being essential to meet the country's wartime needs, the MWEO had a key role in post-war Maori development. It had given Maori a new confidence: government had allowed the Maori people to organise in their own way, to move into the mainstream of economic and social life, and to assume positions of leadership in the wider community. This last had probably been decisive in overcoming Maori suspicion of government at the start of the war. Other significant factors were government's promises that confiscation claims would be settled at the end of the war (particularly important in securing help from Waikato leader, Te Puea) and that there would be adequate rehabilitation for Maori servicemen.
Setting up the Maori seats - Maori and the vote
Early elections
Parliament's people
MPs, staff and spectators
Today there are 121 Members of Parliament (MPs) in New Zealand's Parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in 1854. For a start, that first Parliament was all male. Now, women make up about 30% of MPs. Maori MPs, now around 13%, were not part of that first Parliament either.
An uneasy compromise - The Maori War Effort Organisation
Policy on Maori Affairs under scrutiny
Minister of Native Affairs Rex Mason, wanting to curb the Maori War Effort Organisation's expansion or entrenchment, in 1944 initiated moves to introduce to the Native Department a system of welfare officers. He also drafted a bill to revive Maori councils, most of which had lapsed or been incorporated into the MWEO. The bill was rejected by the MWEO's representatives and the Maori MPs. They recommended the establishment of a new Department of Maori Welfare (or Administration) that would incorporate Maori from the senior administrative level to grass-roots tribal committees. The aim was to retain a degree of Maori autonomy, and to use government resources more effectively for accelerated Maori development.
Change in the 20th century - Maori and the vote
A victim of neglect?
Maori MPs - Parliament's people
Maori in the House
Important leaders of Maori society have represented their people in the House: Maui Pomare, James Carroll, Matiu Rata and, most famously, Apirana Ngata. These and other men – and they were all men until 1949 when Iriaka Ratana was elected – could be lonely Maori voices in a Pakeha-dominated House. It was not until the 1980s and the later introduction of mixed member proportional representation (MMP) in 1996 that more Maori entered the House and represented electorates other than traditional Maori seats.
Parliament in te reo - Parliament's culture and traditions
Maori language in Parliament
Te reo (the Maori language) came into Parliament with the first Maori Members of Parliament (MPs), elected in 1868. Speaking in Maori has been a vexed issue both for those who spoke the language and those who could not. Early Maori MPs had little English. Some Maori MPs preferred to speak in Maori, and some wanted to make a point by doing so. One MP, Tapihana Paraire (Dobbie) Paikea, spoke in Maori as a way to send messages home to his wife who was listening on the radio.
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