Driver licence invalid ID for iwi elections

6:46 am on 10 August 2015

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou (TRONPnui) is no longer accepting iwi members' driver licences for personal identification purposes for the upcoming rūnanga elections.

Sir Tamati Reedy at The Waitangi Tribunal is hearing arguments on whether it should hold an urgent inquiry into the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations.

Sir Tamati Reedy wants TRONPnui to rethink the decision. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

Nominations for the 14 elected representative positions on Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou opened on 15 July and close on Wednesday 12 August.

The TRONPnui's decision came to light when it informed Te Taurahere o Ngāti Porou ki Pōneke chairman, Sir Tamati Reedy.

It prompted him to write a letter of concern to Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou chair Selwyn Parata, to rethink the decision.

In Sir Tamati's letter he said TRONPnui's latest change was unacceptable and that it would directly affect whānau who the Taurahere had helped to register, and would undermine the faith iwi members had in the election process.

He wrote to the organisation requesting that the driver licence of iwi members be used as a valid form of identification so they could register to vote.

Tā Tamati also called for an urgent meeting with the TRONPnui Board.

He declined to talk to Radio New Zealand further about the issue saying it was an internal matter for TRONPnui to sort out, but he did suggest that Te Manu Korihi contact Selwyn Parata to seek further clarification.

Sir Tamati said he was interested to know the reason behind why TRONPnui was no longer accepting people's driver licences.

Mr Parata could not be reached for comment.