Micheal Tarry on the 150 year history of separate Maori representation in New Zealand parliament .
The second part is an argument that attempts to show the seats as being concordant with the Treaty due to requirements under Articles Two and Three, and that no matter how token the seats might be, they nonetheless aid in giving Māori a voice in government and assist in reversing the denial of sovereignty spoken of in Part One. The third part is an argument that attempts to show the seats as being aberrant with the Treaty due to the text of Article Three, the requirements of liberal democracy, and the dilemma of under-representation.

I don't know NZ history very well - I must say I'm surprised at the age and persistence of these seats, and compared to Australia of the time (and for long after) it seems quite enlightened.  Not really much of a content though.

That said my instinct is against the seats, especially given that parliament is appointed via proportional representation - if there was a compelling common interest among Maoris, couldn't they form political parties just like everyone else?
More reading: Tags
Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • cam . # .
    Poll Bludger has an entry on it too: From ;

    The newest entrant is the Maori Party, founded last year by former Labour member Tariana Turia when she quit the party over a land and seabed title dispute. For reasons the Poll Bludger doesn\'t quite understand, Turia felt obliged to quit her Maori electorate seat and win it back at a by-election sat out by both major parties. All polls have the party at well below 5 per cent nationally, but polling shows it on course to win as many as five of the seven Maori electorates, mostly at the expense of Labour. This means the party could win a greater share of seats than their proportion of the party vote would normally warrant (known in the trade as an \"overhang\"), in which case the distribution of list seats would produce a parliament with more than 120 seats and a target of 62 rather than 61 seats to form a majority. The website of the pro-MMP Electoral Reform Coalition informs us that the nationwide party list system makes such an outcome \"virtually impossible\" - which would no doubt be true, if not for the Maori electorates.

    Cant deep link to his articles though. It does seem an odd concession. Every minority, by those standards, should be able to ask for exclusive representation.

    cam
  • Poll Bludger\'s permalinks: Yeah, the best I could find is a link to all of August .

    I only got 80% on the quiz too ...
  • avocadia . # .
    How amusing: I didn\'t know I was voting in a by-election next month until I scrolled down that page and noticed the short bits about the by-elections in Maroubra, Marrickville, and Maq Fields. It clearly didn\'t sink in when Craig Knowles upped and retired.
  • cam . # .
    Probably an argument for the Tasmanian style: They dont have by-elections, instead, the person who came second gets the seat. It makes the major parties field multiple candidates, which in turns splits the major party vote. Odd cause and effect.

    cam