Cloudy future for Ngāti Maru deals with Taranaki councils
Ngāti Maru hopes two pending agreements with Taranaki Regional Council will survive the local body shake-up and keep the council and iwi working together.
The iwi is close to confirming a pair of draft agreements setting out how Ngāti Maru and the council will collaborate in future.
But the fate of the agreements is uncertain as the government has ordered councils to join together to shrink their numbers - including the abolition of regional councils after 2028.
Te Kāhui o Maru tumu whakarae Anaru Marshall hoped both agreements would survive the reform upheavals.
“Any new council structure that comes in, we’re just going to have to sit down with them and see if they’re going to recognise and honour [the agreements].”
Under Ngāti Maru’s 2022 Treaty Settlement Act, Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) must sign up to a Joint Management Agreement with the iwi.
The agreement has to cover the Waitara River and activities in its catchment affecting the river.
The draft Joint Management Agreement (JMA) commits to cooperation over farm freshwater plans, mining, wetlands, rivers, water allocation and more.
The iwi agency Te Kāhui Maru and TRC have also drawn up a Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (MWAR) agreement, which would include Taranaki’s three district councils.
MWAR agreements set out iwi involvement in Resource Management Act (RMA) processes, helping local authorities to meet their legal obligations.
But the Government is replacing the RMA with two new laws now before Parliament.
As currently written, the coming laws would carry forward any MWAR already initiated or completed.
Marshall expected that after the revamp many councillors and staff would remain in place and pick up both agreements.
“They can see the value in it - they’re not stalling the process.
“They’re working diligently alongside us, and our people are working alongside them.”
TRC intends Ngāti Maru’s MWAR to offer a template for agreements with the region’s seven other iwi, according to a report for the council’s Executive Audit and Risk Committee meeting on Tuesday.
MWAR talks have also been initiated by Te Tōpuni Ngarahu, Te Kaahui o Rauru, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Mutunga and Te Kāhui o Taranaki Iwi - and remaining iwi are looking at doing the same.
The report says the iwi authorities are also investigating coming together under a collective MWAR.
The draft JMA includes a Leadership Forum with four Ngāti Maru members and four from TRC, with one co-chair from each.
The Leadership Forum would have some decision-making powers - and the JMA sets out Ngāti Maru involvement where the council retains decision-making authority.
In contrast, a Relationship Forum under the MWAR would focus on discussion, with all decision-making staying with the councils.
Numbers on the Relationship Forum are yet to be confirmed.
The report says both draft agreements are clear that council and iwi want the deals to survive any new local government model but “cannot go as far as to explicitly bind a future entity”.
The full council will consider adopting the JMA and MWAR at the end of this month.
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