I'm a list MP based in Gisborne, and our district council recently approved the establishment of Māori wards. It was emotional, sitting in that council room when that unanimous decision was announced. I was dismayed, but not surprised, when a well-funded organisation from outside our rohe immediately swamped the flasher areas of town with fliers starting the poll process—not where I live, though, in Kaiti. These polls have proved to be an almost insurmountable barrier to improving Māori representation in local government and, in some cases, a deterrent to local authorities considering establishing Māori wards or Māori constituencies. I look forward to councils being able to rip up those racist polls as not worth the paper they were written on. 