Deceased mayor's track record discussed during debate to join lobby group or prioritise Māori

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Dunedin City councillors voted to backtrack on their decision to join a lobbying group.

The Dunedin City Council has reversed its decision to join an anti-Three Waters lobbying group, to save its relationship with local Māori.

Both sides of the debate invoked the track record of former mayor Dave Cull, who died in 2021, to argue their case.

One councillor chose to abstain from the vote, and another was absent, but told Stuff there was a fair chance he would have voted to prioritise a relationship with Māori.

The vote resulted in a 7-6 decision to no longer join Communities 4 Local Democracy He hapori mō te Manapori, or C4LD, and not pay the $20,000 joining fee.

Elected members disagreed over what former mayor Dave Cull would have wanted when deciding to leave C4LD and preserve a relationship with Māori.

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Rachel Wesley, of Otakou Rūnaka, and Matapura Ellison, Kati Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki, address the Dunedin City Council. File photo.

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Mayor Aaron Hawkins said Cull had worked hard during his time on council to build a relationship with local Māori, an effort Cr Christine Garey said had been one of Cull's proudest achievements.

Cr Jules Radich said joining C4LD was about standing up for Dunedin’s rights, and it was “beholden to every one of us to honour Dave’s memory” and do so. Hawkins considered the comment “outrageous”.

Mana whenua were “heartened” at the decision according to a joint statement issued by Te Rūnganga o Ōtākou chair Rachel Wesley and Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki chair Matapura Ellison.

At their launch in December, C4LD represented 23 councils from across the motu. In March that grew to 32, but on March 29th became 31. File photo.

They reiterated that they supported whatever position the DCC had on Three Waters, it was their outsourcing to C4LD the two rūnanga disagreed with.

At the previous council meeting in February, elected members voted 8-7 to join the group, despite a Ngāi Tahu leader telling them iwi did not support C4LD.

Cr Doug Hall initially voted to join the group and was absent on Tuesday for personal reasons, but told Stuff there was “a fair chance” he would have voted to prioritise local Māori.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta faced a lot of flak for going back on her word to keep the reforms optional.

“I can't guarantee I would have, I didn't like feeling blackmailed… but we can't afford for the city to stop. We've only just started going forward, and we would have been going backwards.”

Cr Rachel Elder abstained from the vote, despite voting to join C4LD in February.

She told Stuff her understanding of the situation was both mana whenua and C4LD had valid worldviews, and she wanted Māori and councils to sit down and figure out a solution to the reform.

She said she had requested that DCC hui with Ngāi Tahu at all workshops, but believed the Government should have been responsible for organising meetings with local councils and their mana whenua.

C4LD is a lobbying group made up of 31 of the 67 city and district councils across the country.

It was formed to oppose the Government's proposed water reform model, which would group the country's drinking, storm and waste water infrastructure – currently split across 67 territorial authorities – into four separate entities.

The Government expected a grouping of roughly 1 million users per entity would make it easier to fund infrastructure upgrades and maintenance.

The Government will push ahead with Three Waters reform despite considerable opposition. Video first published on October 27, 2021.

The entities would be governed by the member councils, and would remain in public ownership but be managed by an independent board of experts.

Almost all councils agree the reform is necessary, but opposed the details of the Government's model and were outraged when the Government went back on it’s word to make the reform optional.

Many dispute the Government’s claims the entity system would save money, and want to continue managing infrastructure themselves, so residents had direct influence on decisions through elections and attending public council meetings.

Local Government NZ (LGNZ) which up until 2021 represented all territorial authorities, was working with the Government to come to a consensus on details of the reform.

However, members of C4LD don't believe a consensus is possible when the Government has already gone back on their word once.

They also have little faith in LGNZ’s ability to fight back, since LGNZ's stance is to work with and not against the Government.

C4LD argued that not only had Government failed to consult with local communities, but the proposed reform was a poor result for mana whenua.

According to their website, the C4LD alternative would therefore offer “real and meaningful partnership” to Māori.

Ngāi Tahu were concerned C4LD were only paying lip service to working with Māori, saying the group had offered no such partnership.

The iwi were also concerned some members of C4LD were actively spreading anti-Māori misinformation.

As a result, when the DCC voted to join the group, the chairs of the two local rūnanga walked away from council's Māori Participation Working Party, as they considered it proof their relationship was one-sided.

Those in favour of backtracking said joining the group was not worth damaging the council’s relationship with iwi for, and argued they didn’t need C4LD to get their point across to Government, as almost all councils were already advocating to retain local ownership of assets.

Those who wanted to remain in the group believed C4LD was a reputable group which was growing in strength and numbers, and was their best shot at retaining local ownership of assets.

C4LD chair and Manawatū District Council mayor Helen Worboys thanked the council for its contributions to the group during their short membership.

Worboys did not answer how the group planned to co-design alternative models without Ngāi Tahu.

She did not answer if there were any iwi or hapū across the country who backed C4LD.

She did not answer if they believed Māori had already made their own deal with Government on Three Waters, which multiple Dunedin councillors argued.

A spokesman for the group said the te reo Māori version of C4LD's name was a literal translation suggested by a senior staff member at the Whangarei District Council's Māori Outcomes Team, who is Māori.