title: Iwi interests and the RMA: An evaluation of the quality of first generation council plans

authors: Jefferies, Richard

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This working paper analyses the processes adopted by councils for involving hapū
/iwi in plan implementation, including the resource consents process. Three topic issues were investigated to assess plan implementation — urban amenity,
storm water, and issues of importance to iwi. Questions were asked about the capacity of hapū/iwi to engage in the resource consent
process, which resource issues were of concern to them, their relationship with
council and consent applicants, and their perception of the consent process. Most resources listed in the questionnaire were of concern to hapū/iwi, with water
quality, wāhi tapu and heritage the most commonly cited. In conclusion, we found a general dissatisfaction on the part of hapū/iwi with
councils’ performance with respect to both Treaty relationships and consent
processing under the RMA. A further contributing factor to the poor relationships
found between hapū/iwi and councils, was the lack of clarity over the role of hapū and
iwi in resource management. In several districts, diverging responses from hapū/iwi
and councils to questions about level of understanding and commitment suggests there
is a need for more effective communication. These problems are compounded by the
generally low capacity of hapū/iwi to participate in resource consent processes. These findings suggest that there is much to be done to improve relationships and
behaviour of these key stakeholder groups in the plan implementation process if key
provisions in the RMA related to hapū/iwi interests are to be fulfilled. The differences
shown in reciprocal perceptions have serious implications for establishing a sound
working partnership between councils and hapū/iwi in their areas. Making clear these
discrepancies is a first step towards taking the measures needed for building a better
partnership. Further, the capacity of hapū/iwi to participate could be better utilised if
there was greater integration between regional and district councils on issues of
significance and processes for iwi involvement.

text: Iwi interests and the RMA: An evaluation of the quality of first generation council plans This working paper analyses the processes adopted by councils for involving hapū
/iwi in plan implementation, including the resource consents process. Three topic issues were investigated to assess plan implementation — urban amenity,
storm water, and issues of importance to iwi. Questions were asked about the capacity of hapū/iwi to engage in the resource consent
process, which resource issues were of concern to them, their relationship with
council and consent applicants, and their perception of the consent process. Most resources listed in the questionnaire were of concern to hapū/iwi, with water
quality, wāhi tapu and heritage the most commonly cited. In conclusion, we found a general dissatisfaction on the part of hapū/iwi with
councils’ performance with respect to both Treaty relationships and consent
processing under the RMA. A further contributing factor to the poor relationships
found between hapū/iwi and councils, was the lack of clarity over the role of hapū and
iwi in resource management. In several districts, diverging responses from hapū/iwi
and councils to questions about level of understanding and commitment suggests there
is a need for more effective communication. These problems are compounded by the
generally low capacity of hapū/iwi to participate in resource consent processes. These findings suggest that there is much to be done to improve relationships and
behaviour of these key stakeholder groups in the plan implementation process if key
provisions in the RMA related to hapū/iwi interests are to be fulfilled. The differences
shown in reciprocal perceptions have serious implications for establishing a sound
working partnership between councils and hapū/iwi in their areas. Making clear these
discrepancies is a first step towards taking the measures needed for building a better
partnership. Further, the capacity of hapū/iwi to participate could be better utilised if
there was greater integration between regional and district councils on issues of
significance and processes for iwi involvement.

year: 2002-10-31

title: Race-ing and engendering the nation-state in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Seuffert, Nan

subjects: Maori

abstract: During the past several decades the dynamics of law and policy reform in Aotearoa/New Zealand have prefigured and encapsulated contemporary trends in economic state restructuring, indigenous claims to refigure the nation, and gender struggles for political representation. Successive governments have restructured the economy and the state using radical forms of neo-liberal economic policy with the stated aim of globalizing the economy. Political action on the part of the indigenous Maori people, often led by Maori women, increased and diversified, and included demands for self-determination and redress of historical colonial injustices. In 1997, the conservative National Party’s Jenny Shipley become the country’s first white female Prime Minister, followed in 1999 by the election of a center-left coalition headed by Labour Party leader Helen Clark. This article analyzes the race and gender dynamics of these contemporary trends. First, it argues that policies of state structural adjustment and Maori political claims have converged in commodified settlements of past colonial injustices as corporate deals. These deals are temporary alliances of men across race to silence and erase the demands for self-determination or political power sharing of Maori activists, who are usually Maori women. Second, this article contends that the political instability created by rapid structural adjustment and the change to a Mixed Member Proportional (“MMP”) electoral system converges with white backlash against these settlements to open space for New Zealand’s first two female Prime Ministers. This article also suggests that the election of a second white female Prime Minister in New Zealand may reflect the (temporary) regendering of the role of Prime Minister to the feminine.

text: Race-ing and engendering the nation-state in Aotearoa/New Zealand During the past several decades the dynamics of law and policy reform in Aotearoa/New Zealand have prefigured and encapsulated contemporary trends in economic state restructuring, indigenous claims to refigure the nation, and gender struggles for political representation. Successive governments have restructured the economy and the state using radical forms of neo-liberal economic policy with the stated aim of globalizing the economy. Political action on the part of the indigenous Maori people, often led by Maori women, increased and diversified, and included demands for self-determination and redress of historical colonial injustices. In 1997, the conservative National Party’s Jenny Shipley become the country’s first white female Prime Minister, followed in 1999 by the election of a center-left coalition headed by Labour Party leader Helen Clark. This article analyzes the race and gender dynamics of these contemporary trends. First, it argues that policies of state structural adjustment and Maori political claims have converged in commodified settlements of past colonial injustices as corporate deals. These deals are temporary alliances of men across race to silence and erase the demands for self-determination or political power sharing of Maori activists, who are usually Maori women. Second, this article contends that the political instability created by rapid structural adjustment and the change to a Mixed Member Proportional (“MMP”) electoral system converges with white backlash against these settlements to open space for New Zealand’s first two female Prime Ministers. This article also suggests that the election of a second white female Prime Minister in New Zealand may reflect the (temporary) regendering of the role of Prime Minister to the feminine.

year: 2002-02-01

title: Emerging out of Lapita at Caution Bay

authors: David, Bruno O.

abstract: The discovery in 2010 of stratified Lapita assemblages at Caution Bay near Port Moresby, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG) (David et al. 2011; McNiven et al. 2011), brought to the fore a series of important questions (Richards et al. 2016), many of which also apply to other parts of Island Melanesia where Lapita sites have been known for many decades. Unlike other parts of Melanesia, however, at Caution Bay some of the Lapita sites also have pre-Lapita horizons. A number are culturally very rich. At Caution Bay, where the oldest confirmed Lapita finds date to no earlier than c. 2900 cal BP (McNiven et al. 2012a), the major questions do not concern the earliest expressions of Lapita around 3300–3400 cal BP. Rather, here we are concerned more with identifying how assemblages associated with the Lapita cultural complex arrived and transformed along the south coast, after a presence in coastal and island regions to the northeast over the previous 400 years. These concerns contain both spatial and temporal elements: how and when, as a prelude to why, particular cultural traits continued and changed across Caution Bay. Tanamu 1 is the first of 122 archaeological sites excavated in Caution Bay upon which we will report. As a site, it represents the ideal entry point, as being a coastal site which contains pre-Lapita, Lapita and post-Lapita horizons it encapsulates many of the signatures, trends and transformations seen across the >5000 year Caution Bay sequence at large. Of special note in the wider context of Lapita archaeology, the presence of rich pre-Lapita horizons is what makes Caution Bay so important both in and of itself and for the Lapita story.

text: Emerging out of Lapita at Caution Bay The discovery in 2010 of stratified Lapita assemblages at Caution Bay near Port Moresby, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG) (David et al. 2011; McNiven et al. 2011), brought to the fore a series of important questions (Richards et al. 2016), many of which also apply to other parts of Island Melanesia where Lapita sites have been known for many decades. Unlike other parts of Melanesia, however, at Caution Bay some of the Lapita sites also have pre-Lapita horizons. A number are culturally very rich. At Caution Bay, where the oldest confirmed Lapita finds date to no earlier than c. 2900 cal BP (McNiven et al. 2012a), the major questions do not concern the earliest expressions of Lapita around 3300–3400 cal BP. Rather, here we are concerned more with identifying how assemblages associated with the Lapita cultural complex arrived and transformed along the south coast, after a presence in coastal and island regions to the northeast over the previous 400 years. These concerns contain both spatial and temporal elements: how and when, as a prelude to why, particular cultural traits continued and changed across Caution Bay. Tanamu 1 is the first of 122 archaeological sites excavated in Caution Bay upon which we will report. As a site, it represents the ideal entry point, as being a coastal site which contains pre-Lapita, Lapita and post-Lapita horizons it encapsulates many of the signatures, trends and transformations seen across the >5000 year Caution Bay sequence at large. Of special note in the wider context of Lapita archaeology, the presence of rich pre-Lapita horizons is what makes Caution Bay so important both in and of itself and for the Lapita story.

year: 2022