A former mayor of New Plymouth, who was spat at in the street over his support of establishing a Maori ward in the city, feels vindicated now the government has stepped in to scrap citizen-initiated polls on the divisive issue.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced a bill will be brought to Parliament under urgency to ditch the “discriminatory” polls ahead of the 2022 local body elections.
Andrew Judd was New Plymouth Mayor in 2014 when the council voted to establish a Maori ward.
It was thrown out a year later in a citizens-initiated poll in which 83 per cent of those who took part voted it down.
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