68 Maranga Mai! discriminatory on several grounds. Although restoring access to the courts and requiring the Crown to disprove claims rather than have Māori prove them, the new Act pre-defined customary title in a manner that restricted the court’s reference to the principles of domestic and international customary law. The Māori Party argued that this was the best they could achieve under current circumstances. MP Hone Harawira resigned from the party and launched a new hīkoi. Despite majority Māori opposition, only 300 marched in Wellington principally because it is anathema for Māori to march against an injustice perpetrated by other Māori. The Māori Party ejected Mr Harawira who left and formed the Mana Party (Dominion Post, 22 March 2011). The Rangatiratanga flag (2007) In 2007, a new Māori sovereignty group, Te Ata Tino Toa, unsuccessfully petitioned Transit New Zealand (TNZ) to fly the Rangatiratanga flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. An official explained that TNZ only flew the flags of sovereign nations. Pundits were quick to point out that TNZ had flown the flag of Team New Zealand America’s Cup on the bridge. Many also observed that Australia regularly flew the Aboriginal flag alongside its ensign on Australia Day. The group adopted an array of tactics lobbying parliament, complaining to the Human Rights Commission, holding an annual ‘Fly the Flag’ competition, bungee jumping and jamming traffic on the bridge. After consulting with the Māori Party, the incoming 2008 National government allowed the Rangatiratanga flag to fly from the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other official buildings (such as Premier House) on Waitangi Day 2010, symbolising that New Zealand comprises one nation, two peoples and many cultures under an equal Treaty partnership (New Zealand Herald, 31 December 2009). Local body representation (2009) The Local Government Electoral Amendment Act (2002) asked local bodies to facilitate Māori participation to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility for the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and to maintain and improve opportunities for Māori to contribute to local government decisionmaking processes. The provision aimed to facilitate greater Māori representation and participation in local body politics by overcoming hidden prejudice, such as Pākehā reluctance to vote for Māori candidates who are strong advocates for their communities. For instance, after the 2007 local government elections, less than five percent of successful candidates were Māori, despite Māori forming 14 percent of the population. Pākehā would later leverage another section in the Act allowing public referendums, which allowed five percent of the electorate to sign a petition challenging proposals to establish Māori local body seats. This section was discriminatory as the same did not apply, for instance, to establishing rural wards to increase the representation of mainly Pākehā farming and other communities. Pākehā resistance, stemming from a reluctance to relinquish monopoly cultural control and share power with Māori, also argued that Māori seats constituted an extra vote for Māori. This is not the case; the measure ensures Māori participation without compromising democracy. Each voter, whether electing mainstream or Māori candidates, has just one vote each. In 2004, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council inaugurated three Māori seats of the 13 council seats, voted by those on the Māori Electoral Roll. The three seats equated with the region’s Māori population of 27.5 per cent. Other local bodies, rather than showing leadership, succumbed to racism by referring to voter referendums where organised racists, systematically aggravating Pākehā fears, voted Māori rights down (Taonui, 2011). In 2009, the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recommended the establishment of three elected Māori seats on the new Auckland City Council, two for ngā matā waka urban Māori (80 percent of Auckland’s Māori population) and one for mana whenua local Auckland tribes (20 percent). The proposal was reasonable, given that there were no Māori on the Auckland City Council, or Auckland Regional Council, and just 10 Māori representatives of 250 members across all local bodies in the region.