This is a petition calling for the abolition of the Maori seats.

If you support the abolition of the Maori seats please sign the petition and call on others to support this campaign too.

The 1986 Royal Commission on the Electoral System recommended abolishing the Maori seats if MMP was introduced. The MMP legislation was drafted with no provisions for the Maori seats but as a result of strong lobbying by Maori leaders, the seats were re-instated.

The Royal Commission’s recommendation from their report says:

There’s a public expectation that the Maori seats will be removed once Treaty settlements are completed. 

In 2011 the National Party promised: “At the conclusion of the settlement of historic Treaty claims, National will begin a constitutional process to abolish the Maori seats. National wishes to see all New Zealanders on the same electoral roll.”

National should be encouraged to campaign on this same policy again.

New Zealand First and ACT should be encouraged to do the same.

If enough New Zealanders believe it is time for the Maori seats to be abolished, politicians will listen.

If you support the abolition of the Maori seats please sign the petition and call on others to support this campaign too.

And if you want to contact MPs about this matter, their email addresses can be found HERE.

A comprehensive paper, The Maori Seats in Parliament by Professor Philip Joseph of Canterbury University can be read HERE. An NZCPR background article, Have your say on the future of the Maori Seats, can be read HERE, and another paper, Maori Seats Undermine Democracy, can be read HERE. 

A summary issues paper can be seen below.