Far North Kahika/Mayor Moko Tepania at Kiingi Tuheitia's tangi on Monday. Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
A much-anticipated vote by the Far North District Council on the future of Māori wards has been postponed to avoid a clash with the final day of Kiingi Tuheitia's tangi.
The council had been due to vote on Thursday afternoon - just a day before the government's deadline - but will now meet on Friday morning instead.
The rescheduled meeting will take place at Ngāwhā Innovation Park, near Kaikohe, from 10am.
Currently, four of the council's 11 elected members are chosen by voters in a single, district-wide Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward.
A new law which came into effect on 30 July requires the 45 councils with Māori wards around the country to either scrap them from 2025, or hold a binding poll to determine whether they will be used in the 2028 and 2031 elections.
The deadline for councils to choose between those options is 5pm on Friday.
The Far North District Council will be the last of Northland's four territorial authorities to vote on the issue.
Last month the Kaipara District Council was the first in the country to opt, by 6 votes to 3, to disestablish its Māori ward.
That decision is, however, being challenged by Ngāti Whatua, which has requested a judicial review.
Last week the Northland Regional and Whangārei District councils voted, 8-1 and 9-4, respectively, to retain their Māori wards.
The regional council went a step further, voting 6-3 to seek advice on the consequences of not following the government's directive to hold a poll on Māori wards at the 2025 election.
Far North Kahika (Mayor) Moko Tepania told Local Democracy Reporting that 13 iwi had been invited to attend this week's extraordinary council meeting, so postponing the vote would allow them to follow the final day of the tangi, the burial, and the naming of a successor.
Tepania said the delay was also a mark of respect for Kiingi Tuheitia, who had close whakapapa links to Northland, with Te Aupōuri iwi in particular.
Tepania attended the king's tangi at Turangawaewae, in Ngāruawāhia, on Monday.
The Far North District Council has previously voted, on 9 May, to retain its four-seat Māori ward.
However, because that took place before the new law came into effect, the vote must now be repeated.
The Far North's current Māori ward councillors are Babe Kapa, Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, Penetaui Kleskovic and Tāmati Rākena.
