Rūnanga accuses Gore District Council of having a 'culture of ignorance'

Tuesday, 1 June 2021

The Hokonui Runanga says the Gore District Council had a 'culture of ignorance' during a resource consent process.

The Hokonui Rūnanga is highly critical of the Gore District Council, saying it may be in breach of its responsibilitiesunder the Local Government Act for not consulting with iwi over its long term plan.

The Rūnanga also went further saying the council’s lack of consultation during a resource consent process was ‘’a clear example of a culture of ignorance towards, or, at worst, active exclusion of mana whenua from planning processes.”

Gore district mayor Tracy Hicks said the council acknowledges there has been some work to do on our side in terms of our relationship with the rūnanga.

Hokonui Rūnanga, kaiārahi taiao, Riki Parata put the views down in a submission to the council’s long plan, where he was critical of the council’s aim to build stronger relationships with iwiduring the next 10 years.

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The rūnangadid not speak to its submission at the 2021-2031 long term plan hearing, which was held in Gore on Tuesday.

But in the submission, Parata says there are no funded projects included in the draft plan to enable the council’s aim of building stronger relationships with iwito be realised.

“This brings into question the authenticity of this aim – especially considering the fact that no mana whenua engagement was undertaken in the preparation of this draft Long Term Plan.’’

The rūnanga also strongly recommends that the council proactively allocates funds within the plan towards upskilling its staff and elected officials in their Treaty-based and legal responsibilities through cultural competency and confidence training.

It strongly recommends including budget for mana whenua engagement in all projects so that this situation does not occur again, and continue to place Gore District Council in legally precarious positions, the submission says.

In 2020 the rūnanga opposed the council’s resource consent application to build a pedestrian and cycleway bridge across the Mataura River because the council did not consult with it before announcing its plans. After ongoing discussions, the rūnanga adopted a neutral position.

Because the rūnanga did not speak to its submission, Stuff put questions about its concerns to council for a response.

Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks said: “… council acknowledges there has been some work to do on our side in terms of our relationship with the rūnanga.’’

A more expansive charter of understanding is going to the council for approval at its meeting next week.

“This will lay a solid foundation for our future relationship,’’ Hicks said.

“However, in recent months the chief executive and I have been working closely with the rūnanga to forge a different path, anchored around partnership and early engagement.’’

Council chief executive Steve Parry said he wouldn’t go so far as to say the council had breached the Local Government Act by not consulting with the rūnanga.

“We have been side-tracked with audit issues. We have acknowledged that and explained that to them,’’ he said.

“During every Long Term Plan we do go back and finish it and have a post-mortem, if you like, about what we did well and what we could do better and early engagement with mana whenua will be a big part of that.’’

He Kupu Hōu | New words

kaiārahi taiao (environmental lead)
rūnanga (tribal counsel)