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Speaker 1: Now the process isn't over, but the Hawks Bay District

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Speaker 1: Council was the latest yesterday to confirm a decision that

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Speaker 1: they've made earlier to introduce a Mari seat to their operation. Now,

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Speaker 1: under this new law, if you've missed it passed by

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Speaker 1: Wellington the central government, if you've done that, in other words,

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Speaker 1: introduced a new Maory seat, you either have to drop

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Speaker 1: that seat it next year's local body election or take

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Speaker 1: it to a vote. They have voted to take it

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Speaker 1: to a vote. A lot of councils have done the

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Speaker 1: same thing. I think in totality that's probably the right

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Speaker 1: thing to do. It's a good thing to do. Having

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Speaker 1: race based seats, of course is wrong, but at the

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Speaker 1: very least you have to give your constituents a say.

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Speaker 1: Which has been the crime quite rightly identified and corrected

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Speaker 1: by the government. Part of the argument put Fordenhawk's Bay,

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Speaker 1: as I'm sure it has been in various council meetings

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Speaker 1: around the country, is Marie voices are under threat. Now.

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Speaker 1: The trouble with that is it simply isn't true. It

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Speaker 1: never has been, And in that misrepresentation of the facts

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Speaker 1: is the beauty of democracy. Democracy is alive and well

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Speaker 1: in this country, it's just sadly one of those things

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Speaker 1: that we take for granted part of the democratic process

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Speaker 1: as anyone can stand, anyone can have their voices heard.

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Speaker 1: Far from being under threat, they're not the fascinating. But now,

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Speaker 1: once all the decisions on elections are made, is how

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Speaker 1: many votes for seats will there be and will anyone

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Speaker 1: be able to actually get a majority to actually earn

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Speaker 1: a seat if every single vote votes? Know what's that

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Speaker 1: told us about the entire Marray seat exercise? Could it

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Speaker 1: be in certain areas though maybe Northland, Gisbon, possibly Hawks Bay,

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Speaker 1: that a campaign can be successfully run to get enough

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Speaker 1: numbers over the line. And if that happens, does that

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Speaker 1: spur others on? Could it be the democratic exercise of

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Speaker 1: actually voting leads to a growth in the number of

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Speaker 1: Marray seats? Imagine that success by election, growth by democracy,

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Speaker 1: a voice heard enacted upon in a positive way. Surely

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Speaker 1: the prospect of that potential is far more satisfying and

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Speaker 1: satisfactory legally than the jury manned mess we have till now.

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Speaker 1: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 1: news talks that be from six a m. Weekdays or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,