The Issue of Māori wards: We need not have the tyranny of the majority (pn678)

The tyranny of the majority is an inherent weakness to majority rule in which the majority of an electorate pursues exclusively its own objectives at the expense of those of the minority factions. -- Wikipedia.

For the moment, Don Brash and Hobson's Pledge's  attempt to prevent a dedicated Māori ward in Tauranga seems to have been successful. A referendum will now be held at a cost of $220,000.  In the past 20 years 22 of 24  attempts to establish Māori wards have been overturned.  The majority —Pākehā vote— has not safeguarded the rights of the under-represented minority.