MPs receive 1700 submissions on bill to entrench Ngāi Tahu seats on Environment Canterbury

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Ngāi Tahu leaders and kaumātua have met with government ministers to discuss how they can work together for the first time since its treaty settlement was signed in the mid-1990s. (First published June 15, 2021)

The Māori Affairs Select Committee has received almost 1700 submissions for the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation Bill) which would give mana whenua two entrenched seats at the Environment Canterbury council table.

The submission period is now closed and the committee will begin publishing submissions here in tranches this week.

Taumutu Rūnanga chairwoman Liz Brown said the bill was an opportunity to solidify the work of Environment Canterbury (ECan) commissioners from 2010 to 2019 by reinstating direct Ngāi Tahu input.

“We’ve still got a long way to go for a Treaty-based society, but this bill is a step towards recognising we are the Treaty partner here.”

* Mana whenua panel will advocate for important traditional sites on stewardship land

* Green Party, Christchurch City Council, lend support to Ngāi Tahu bill

The bill passed its first reading in parliament in December.

There are 10 Papatipu Rūnanga whose takiwā (territory) overlap or fall within the boundaries of the council; these kinship groups are represented at ECan by the collective Te Rōpū Tuia, which Brown co-chairs.

The Māori Affairs Select Committee, chaired by Tamati Coffey, left, has received almost 1700 submissions on the Ngāi Tahu Representation Bill.

South Canterbury Federated Farmers chairman Greg Anderson made a submission on behalf of his branch to air concerns around the bill.

He said there had been a lack of transparency from ECan from the inception and introduction of the bill, and questioned the democracy of the process Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu will use to appoint mana whenua councillors.

“I’m not against Ngāi Tahu having representation on the council; I think we can all agree most governing bodies need to work with Māori these days,” he said.

“What I’m concerned with is the lack of democracy in this whole process. Appointments open the risk of the old boys’ club thing happening.”

Federated Farmers’ South Canterbury president Greg Anderson backs Ngāi Tahu representation on Environment Canterbury, but would like to see them as elected councillors.

Anderson said he would be satisfied if the two Ngāi Tahu councillors were elected, either by the tribe or the general Canterbury population.

Brown said if the bill passed, the appointments would follow a “robust process that means we can see the best person for the job in the role, versus the most popular person”.

The process would involve advertising the positions to the membership of the relevant Papatipu Rūnanga, taking applications and conducting interviews with a panel of leaders from four of those rūnanga.

“I would also like to question, why does our system have to look exactly the same as their system? Tino rangatiratanga looks like us being able to determine that for ourselves,” Brown said.

Anderson also questioned how the council would save ratepayers money with mana whenua representation.

ECan chairwoman Jenny Hughey said these savings had become apparent over the 10 years when the council had Ngāi Tahu commissioners, and then Ngāi Tahu-appointed advisers after council elections were re-instated in 2019.

Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene hopes to see the bill go all the way.

“Commissioners, and now councillors, have needed to be reassured that Ngāi Tahu values and Treaty rights are provided for within our planning framework,” Hughey said.

She added requirements like the National Policy Statement for Freshwater and the Resource Management Act reforms would mean this approach will continue evolving.

“Put simply, our processes and systems have been improved to provide for Ngāi Tahu values in decision-making, and that has resulted in much-reduced numbers of appeals on decisions.

“This has created more timely and certain consent processing for applicants, and reduced costs for ratepayers.”

Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene said he had made a joint submission with ECan as the sponsor of the bill.

“I’m just happy we secured the numbers at the first reading. It’s good to be sponsoring a bill that’s made it this far, and I believe it’s got the goods to go all the way,” he said.

Local residents who wrote to Stuff asking for more clarity around the bill last year queried its second introduction after it was initially voted down in 2019 by NZ First and National.

Then-shadow leader of the house Gerry Brownlee told Stuff in 2019 it was “an inappropriate bill” that should instead have been introduced as a Government bill.

It was an attempt to change the Electoral Act and that could not be done through a private bill, he said.

Speaking for NZ First, Shane Jones had said he believed Ngāi Tahu already had the necessary influence to enact change at a local government level.

He also agreed with Brownlee that it was not democratic to legislate tribal representation for local governance, and that mana whenua could be elected via the usual process.

The problem with that, Brown argues, is that if a Ngāi Tahu person is elected to the council they become a representative of their constituency – not of the tribe – meaning that person has to be partial to the views of the populous they represent.