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Auckland Council’s Independent Māori Statutory Board members have expressed growing frustration around Council’s lack of engagement with mana whenua.
The matter was raised at a Planning Committee held on March 31.
Council has a legal obligation to recognise and respect the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and one way it does this is through Māori impact statements in reports. These statements outline engagement with Māori and how the feedback is incorporated into policy.
Statutory Board member Karen Wilson asked about the consultation process for mana whenua and mātāwaka on Auckland Transport (AT)’s recent parking strategy.
Principal transport planner Claire Covacich said staff were unsuccessful in getting the item onto the Mana Whenua Kaitiaki Forum.
Wilson said the answer didn’t address her question around mātāwaka.
“Now that it is going out for consultation, it is hard to put that feedback into the draft strategy,” Wilson said. “I’m interested in the process of how we do this. I cannot name one time where the Māori consultation has resulted in something we can be proud of.
“The bedrock of te tiriti is involving us.”
Statutory Board deputy chair Tau Henare said that again, the Māori impact statement was not up to scratch.
“Well, bugger it,” he said. “If you can’t get it right, we won’t support any of it.”
Both members voted against endorsement of the parking strategy.
Henare said that this had been an issue for the past five years and nothing had changed.
During a Rural Advisory Panel meeting in February, a similar scenario took place when Statutory Board member Glenn Wilcox questioned how tikanga was used in relation to the new road corridor bylaws.
AT representative Andrew McGill said he had put the issue before the Māori Statutory Board but they declined to provide input. Wilcox pushed back saying he was on the board and did not remember the item coming before him.
