WTH Are Māori Wards? Episode 8: The Rulemakers

Politicians don’t always agree... but in this episode, we get a big surprise when they do! Three heavy hitters, from different sides of the political spectrum and different corners of the motu, all land on the same belief: Māori wards deserve to stay. The twist? One of them is part of the Coalition Government — the very same coalition that brought back referendums against Māori wards.

Join Anaru Judd and Taryn Utiger as they sit down with Andrew Little (ex-Cabinet big gun, now running for Wellington mayor), David MacLeod (National MP and former TRC chair who’ll surprise you), and Tangi Utikere (Labour’s local government spokesperson and former Palmy deputy mayor). And just so you know, we did ask the anti-ward crowd to front up. ACT’s Cameron Luxton, Local Government Minister Simon Watts, and Kaipara mayor Craig Jepson all got multiple invites. They ghosted us. Awkward. So instead, you’ll hear from the politicians who actually showed up, spoke straight, and made the case for why Māori wards work.