Tauranga’s newly elected Māori ward councillor Mikaere Sydney is currently in hospital.

Tauranga City Council had its first election in five years on Saturday and voters had the chance to elect a Māori ward councillor for the first time.

Sydney (Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui) was the clear winner in the Te Awanui ward with 1429 votes. That's is is more than double that of the runner-up Suaree Borell who had 711 votes, the preliminary results showed.

Mayor-elect Mahé Drysdale says he's saddened to learn that Sydney is undergoing medical treatment in hospital.

“I have spoken to his whānau and wish him well for a full recovery. I look forward to the opportunity to welcome him onto council, once he is able, as the elected representative of Te Awanui, Tauranga City Council’s first Māori ward.”

Drysdale says Sydney’s whānau have asked for privacy as they support his recovery.

“Our thoughts are with them,” Drysdale says.

Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale.

Sydney describes himself as a “grandchild of Tauranga Moana”, and he has been representing Tauranga’s rangatahi, tamariki and mokopuna to ensure a bright future for them and further generations, according to his election bio on the Tauranga City Council election website.

The website states he is an active member of the community, a netball coach, Tauranga Netball director and kapa haka judge.

“I am a young leader in our moana who is across all iwi, hapū, marae and hāpori levels I have strong relationships throughout the Moana that are key to my success,” he says in his election bio.

Syndey’s priority is “weaving Māori culture into Tauranga City” so it could be a “responsible treaty partner,” he says in a video on the election website.

Three candidates stood in Te Awanui ward and voter turnout in this ward was the lowest at 28.61 per cent. Overall voter turnout was 37.88 per cent as of July 21, this could change when final results are released on Thursday.

History of Tauranga’s Māori ward

The decision was made to establish a Māori ward in 2020, but this faced being potentially overturned by a petition from a group called Concerned Citizens.

If a petition was signed by at least five per cent of the local population, they could force a binding referendum that could overturn a council’s decision to introduce Māori wards.

Local Government Minister at the time, Nanaia Mahuta, enabled the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill, preventing such petitions from affecting future council decisions on Māori wards.

The commission confirmed the previous council’s decision on Māori wards at a meeting in April 2021.

The Māori ward is at risk again with the Government planning to require councils to hold a binding referendum on Māori wards established after March 2021.

Local Government New Zealand president Sam Broughton labelled the Government’s decision a “complete overreach”.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Correction and clarification

This story has been amended to remove a reference to a legal “loophole” on Māori wards and clarify the steps that could have led to Tauranga’s Māori ward decision being overturned if a referendum had been held.