'This is as it should be': Wellington City Council, mana whenua sign co-governance agreement

Friday, 29 April 2022

“This is as it should be,” were the words of Ngāti Toa chief executive Helmut Modlik at the signing of a new co-governance agreement between mana whenua from Te Whanganui-a-Tara and the Wellington City Council on Friday.

The agreement meant mana whenua would be involved in council decisions much earlier – the council would not be asking for approval once a decision was already planned, but engaging throughout the process.

In a speech at the agreement signing at Pipitea Marae, Wellington mayor Andy Foster said the new model was about partnership, care, and mutual respect, and it would not mean the parties would always agree. “It’s about the way we disagree … with love, aroha.”

An ethos of wellbeing of housing, land, people and culture would underpin the mahi the council was undertaking alongside mana whenua, he said.

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Earlier in the day and before the agreement was signed, local iwi, hapū and mana whenua representatives welcomed members from the council, including councillors, the council’s chief executive Barbara McKerrow and Foster into the marae with waiata.

From 2pm the procession was led into the marae by, in part, councillors Jill Day and Tamatha Paul holding a korowai which was laid at the head of the marae, between representatives from the council seated on its left and representatives from iwi, hapū and whānau on the right.

While initially separated, as the afternoon went on and speeches were given by Modlik, Liz Kelly from Ngāti Toa, Foster, Day, and Kara Puketapu-Dentice from Taranaki Whānui, the groups merged into one, signing the co-governance agreement which marks a new approach to how the council deals with te ao Māori in its affairs.

The agreement comes 182 years after Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed in Wellington.

Foster began the day’s speeches by noting how the council had made great strides already in its partnering with Māori, including through the work Day had done, the visibility of te reo Māori around Wellington City and within the council’s institutions, and having Karepa Wall, the council’s chief Māori officer/tātai heke Māori be part of the council’s executive leadership team.

The council had also stepped up its funding for mana whenua, Kelly represented Ngāti Toa at council meetings and soon the council would appoint a representative from Taranaki Whānui for meetings, too. It had also adopted Māori wards.

The council would hold co-governance meetings four times a year when representatives from the council and iwi would be able to visit one another.

In her speech, Kelly said the agreement was about the council sharing values with mana whenua. She said she had already been listened to in important council decisions, including a commitment from the council not to dump sewage into the harbour after Kelly voiced concerns. “This is real whānau,” she said.

Day said the agreement was about bringing Māori values into everything the council does. “Too many people have been, and are being, left behind,” she said.

Modlik said the agreement was about creating a better future for the region’s rangatahi, while Puketapu-Dentice said he was deeply proud to be in the presence of kuia and kaumātua who had fought to get to this point.

Signing the agreement was the first step towards implementing Tūpiki Ora, the council’s Māori strategy for the next ten years. The council would vote on that on May 5.

The agreement replaced two individual memorandums of understanding with Taranaki Whānui and Ngāti Toa which were signed in 2017.