Dr Mawera Karetai didn’t erect a single billboard or spend a cent on her Māori ward election campaign in the Bay of Plenty – so it came as a shock when she actually won.
Karetai had even quipped she’d rather “eat my own eyeballs” than run, but her teenage son’s passionate campaign for Māori wards helped persuade her.
In the course of the mother-son campaign, Karetai became the new Kōhi Māori councillor for Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
She said she was surprised to win the seat as she only stood for the position as a platform to speak about Māori wards.
“It was never my plan to be elected, but it’s turned out well in the end. I’m happy that I was.”
Her son, Jack Karetai-Barrett, made national headlines this year for walking from Whakatāne to Tauranga and then biking to Wellington in the school holidays to raise awareness.
The pair say they are thankful to everyone who voted for Māori wards, after a successful campaign to have them retained in the region.
Whakatāne district received almost double the number of votes for Māori wards than it had in its 2018 referendum, with a clear majority to retain them.
Kawerau district received the second highest percentage of votes in favour of Māori wards in the country leaving Māori wards firmly ensconced in the local government sector throughout Eastern Bay of Plenty.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for Māori wards,” Jack told Local Democracy Reporting.
Karetai said speaking at candidate events was a chance to dispel myths and build on Jack’s campaign.
Filing her election return this week, Karetai reflected on the fact that she had not spent a cent on an election campaign.
Without nailing up a single billboard, placing an advertisement or creating a social media campaign, she was elected with a 94-vote lead over three other candidates.
She already has plans for how she can make a difference.
“The Bay of Plenty Regional Council doesn’t have a dedicated climate change committee. Which is weird, considering that we are one of the most vulnerable communities in the country.
“Also, we don’t have a proper youth council. I would like to help them work toward that.
“How do we really get kids excited about democracy and sitting at that table if they don’t know what’s involved in it?”
Having run unsuccessfully for the Whakatāne mayoralty in 2013, Whakatāne council in 2016, Bay of Plenty District Health Board in 2019 and Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2022, Dr Karetai said she felt jaded with the idea of standing for election this year.
Previous Kōhi Māori councillor Toi Iti and Whakatāne district councillor and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa chairman Tu O’Brien had both suggested to her that she stand, but she was reluctant.
“I told Tu I would rather eat my own eyeballs. I was really happy with my life at the moment. It’s taken a really long time to get my work life balance where I want it.”
An online lecturer and ethics advisor at the University of Otago, teaching the Masters of Sustainable Business Programme, she is also into her eighth year on the board of BayTrust.
She is a lead social researcher for Government funded research programme Our Changing Coast, looking into the impacts of sea-level rise, and has handed over part of her workload to accommodate regional council responsibilities.
This is also the last year she had Jack, her youngest son, at home with her, so she wanted to spend time with him.
However, it was Jack who ultimately persuaded his mother to stand.
“He said, ‘Mum, if you put your name in for regional council you will be able to go to all the candidate meetings and talk about Māori wards’,” Karetai said.
Karetai had been among the many strong voices in the Whakatāne movement to have Māori wards adopted onto district councils, alongside Whakatāne district councillor Toni Boynton and long-time social justice campaigner Ruth Gerzon.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council was the first council in the country to have Māori wards.
“Every time I’ve stood, it’s been more about the opportunity to bring awareness to people.”
Now, she gets asked by strangers if she is Jack’s mother. One lady who introduced herself at Auckland Airport told her, “I’m voting for Māori wards because of Jack”.
“She said she didn’t have any reason to vote for or against them other than Jack did his big bike ride and that was a good enough reason.
“That sort of thing was happening all over the place.
Jack was as surprised as she was when she was elected.
“I rang Jack and told him and he said, ‘How did that happen?’”
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
