Far North elects record-breaking ‘mana wāhine’ council

The term mana wāhine speaks to the women’s power, spiritual essence and mana.

The eight Far North local politicians are among only 15 women elected to Northland’s four councils this month.

Retiring KDC politician Eryn Wilson-Collins says FNDC’s majority female council is magnificent and important on a national scale
Photo / Susan Botting

Outgoing Kaipara councillor Eryn Wilson-Collins said the Far North achievement was highly significant on a local, regional and national scale.

“It’s magnificent,” Wilson-Collins said.

“Like actor Will Ferrell said ‘Isn’t it time for women to run the planet. Men have run the show since 10,000 BC and haven’t made such a good job of that’.

“Maybe the Far North is having a go at doing something about that.”

Half of the FNDC’s top table’s women are returning – immediate past deputy mayor Kelly Stratford, former deputy mayor Ann Court, Felicity Foy and Māori ward councillor Hilda Halkyard-Harawira.

Kerikeri’s Ann Court is Northland’s longest-serving current female local government politician.
Photo / Susan Botting

The others are newcomers – Arohanui Allen, Rachel Baucke, Rudkin and Davina Smolders.

Tepania is one of just three men around the new council table, also including returnees Tāmati Rākena and John Vujcich.

He said adding FNDC’s 19 community board members – which included eight women – into FNDC’s total 30 elected representatives mix took the council’s overall ratio of women to men to 53%.

Court – Northland’s longest-serving female council politician, now starting her 10th term – said her council’s situation showed how far New Zealand had come since women were given the vote in 1893.

She said councils swung between being adversarial and collaborative.

The new council illustrated how the public eventually self-corrected between those styles through voting choices, and she expected it to be more collaborative, she said.

FNDC’s new council make-up dramatically reverses a downward trend.

Women made up 40% of its top table in 2019–2022, dropping to 36% last term.

Stratford, the outgoing deputy mayor and re-elected third-term councillor, said: “It’s so important to have women in leadership, in governance roles”.

She had noticed the difference around the table as the number of women declined.

Stratford said women were less likely to lose their cool.

“There’s less banging of fists on the table,” Stratford said.

Far North Maori ward councillor Awanui’s Hilda Halkyard-Harawira and husband Hone.
Photo / Susan Botting

FNDC Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward second-term councillor Halkyard-Harawira said electing women to the ward showed what voters wanted.

People voted for those they liked after meeting face to face during the campaign.

Three of the ward’s four councillors are now women – compared with Halkyard-Harawira being the only wāhine in its first term.

All the ward councillors have teaching experience.

Halkyard-Harawira said she would miss the skills of the ward’s two men no longer representing it.

But she looked forward to the new connections and expertise incoming first-time wāhine councillors Rudkin, who is now deputy mayor, and Arohanui Allen would bring.

In extreme contrast, Northland Regional Council (NRC) has the region’s lowest number of women politicians.

Whangārei Heads’ Amy Macdonald is the only woman politician on NRC newly-elected council, which she says is concerning. Photo / Susan Botting

NRC’s Amy Macdonald is the only wāhine among its nine elected representatives, intensifying the council’s downward trend.

Wāhine made up just a third of the regional council’s 2019–2022 table, declining to 22.2% in 2022–2025, but it included New Zealand’s first female regional council chair.

Macdonald said the lack of women at the council’s top table was concerning.

“It would be good to understand why.”

Women had broadly different skill sets, life experiences and networks into the community, she said.

“There’s lots of evidence proving gender diversity leads to better decision making.”

Thirty % of NRC’s 2025 election candidates were women.

Macdonald questioned why that hadn’t translated into more women being elected. “How do we support women to stand and succeed?”

The number of women at WDC’s top table has dropped significantly over the last three elections. First-time councillor Whangārei Heads’ Tangiwai Baker is one of just three women among the new 14-member top table.
Photo / Susan Botting

Meanwhile, the number of women around Whangārei District Council’s top table has halved since 2019.

WDC’s Tangiwai Baker, Deborah Harding and Marie Olsen make up only 21.4% of the council’s new 14-member top table.

Whangārei had Northland’s biggest drop in women local government politicians in 2022, after making up 42.85% of the council’s governance table and including the council’s third female Mayor Sheryl Mai between 2019 and 2022.

That number dropped to 28.5% for 2022–2025.

Mangawhai’s Rachael Williams is the only returning female politician among just three Kaipara District Council politicians. Photo / Susan Botting

Meanwhile, Kaipara District Council (KDC)’s new top table sees the number of women holding its own after a big drop in 2022.

KDC’s Jan Beatty, Joesephine Nathan and Rachael Williams make up 33.3% of its nine incoming politicians.

That compares with 44% in 2019–2022, which included three-term Kaipara Deputy Mayor Anna Curnow, which slipped to 30% for 2022–2025.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.