The bill moves councils' decisions regarding specific Māori representation inside the representation review and makes them the first step of that process. There will be a new requirement for councils to engage with their communities—including Māori—when they make these decisions. It isn't a requirement that every council have Māori wards—it's not a model that will work for every community—but it is important to ask the question of what value specific Māori representation can add to local governance, and it is important to make these decisions early on, instead of waiting until just before the elections, so everybody knows what to expect. That's the new first step of this new process. 