Māori wards law change process 'utterly insulting to New Zealanders' - Judith Collins
National Party leader Judith Collins isn't backing moves to protect Māori wards in local government, after a bill preventing citizen-initiated referendums on the wards passed its first reading on Tuesday. MP Simon Bridges said as a Māori man he found the legislation insulting. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the debate had been decades in the making and change was long overdue. Collins speaks told Morning Report she wasn't happy with the speed matters were moving. "Having this matter rushed through with urgency yesterday on the first day of Parliament, and then a one week Select Committee to thrash out the detail, is utterly insulting to New Zealanders." She said she would rather see a discussion of whether other wards, for example rural wards, should be under the same system rather than the removal of the system itself.