Harawira Hone: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
Harawira Hone: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3209] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
:  
Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare. In opening the debate on this bill the Hon Rodney Hide spoke on a number of occasions about the historical background to this bill referring to the decades-old debate about how Auckland should be restructured which reminded me about a comment made by one of my own whanaunga Paore Tuhaere a chief of the Ngati Whatua o Orakei who said: “Let us be admitted into your councils. This would be the very best system. The Pakeha have their councils and the Maori have separate councils but evil results from these councils not being one.” That could have been a submission to the royal commission on Auckland governance but it was not and it is timely to note that Paore Tuhaere’s comments from the late 19th century are as relevant to today’s debate as they were when they were first spoken because they speak against the evils that result from exclusion marginalisation and isolation and they speak of a system whereby councils would include mana whenua a system in which the relationship between mana whenua and development land use and environmental matters are embedded in the heart of local government and a system where communities are involved in the decision making and communities are strengthened not reduced or eliminated. 
I am proud to be of Ngati Whatua descent and I am proud to stand alongside my whanaunga from Ngati Whatua o Orakei who come to this bill with a very clear understanding of the way in which Maori representation can be achieved. They recommended first and foremost that a mana whenua committee be established consisting of at least the following hapu and iwi interests in the Auckland region: Te Uri o Hau Ngati Wai Ngati Manuhiri Nga Rima o Kaipara Ngati Rehua Ngati Wai ki Aotea Te Kawerau-a-Maki Ngati Whatua o Orakei Ngati Paoa Ngati Tamatera Ngati Maru Ngati Te Ata Ngati Tamaoho Te Akitai and Ngai Tai and that the mana whenua committee then be empowered to do three simple things: first to appoint the three mana whenua members to the regional authority; second to be consulted on the appointment of the nomination by the Waipareira Trust and Manukau Urban Maori Authority of the fourth Maori member from taura here; third to appoint a member to all principal committees advisory boards community boards and area committees of the regional authorities so that Maori have a voice at every level. 
These are practical concrete suggestions about how to achieve basic democracy. They are not acts of protest. They are not hocus pocus. They are not separatist. They are practical concrete suggestions. Indeed further up north last year the Far North District Council also held a hui to discuss the challenge of Maori engagement at local government level. We were told by Maori that there were four simple principles that would guide a positive process of Maori engagement: first partnership working in good faith between both parties; second participation a duty to consult as a way of acting in good faith and reasonably toward one another; third protection recognising and protecting Maori rights to land and water; and fourth pragmatism achieving sound decisions for the whole community. 
It seems to me that these four principles—partnership participation protection and pragmatism—are as good a basis as any on which to include Maori representation in Auckland governance yet when we look at the impact statement of the bill we see there is no mention at all of the concerns raised by Maori communities and Maori people to the royal commission. Neither is there any mention of the royal commission’s recommendation for three Maori seats to be allocated on the proposed Auckland Council. Even though there has been huge controversy over the decision it does not even get a mention. The whole debate has been totally marginalised despite the bill acknowledging that one of the major problems identified by the royal commission was poor community engagement. 
Mind you poor community engagement is not anything new for Maori. In the 2007 local government survey only 3.6 percent of elected members were identified as Maori even though 15 percent of the national population is Maori. One of the main reasons for that can be found in a study by Dr Christine Cheyne and Veronica Tawhai. It shows that Maori do not vote in local body elections because they do not see local authorities as being connected responsible or accountable to Maori communities. All of these core principles seem to be missing from the Government’s approach to the Auckland governance debacle. It seems that the Government has not blinked at spending more than $500000 on a pamphlet called  
Making Auckland Greater 
 advertising and a website to ram through its case for a super-city not only against the wishes of mana whenua but also clearly against the wishes of the citizens of Auckland themselves. 
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi 170 years ago it seems that the Government still fails to take its obligations seriously under the Local Government Act 2002 to ensure the active involvement of tangata whenua in all levels of decision making about changes to the structure and organisation of the Auckland region. This new bill clearly states that its priorities will take precedence over any issues arising out of other local government legislation such as the Local Government Act 2002. This new bill contains no provisions that require the Auckland Council or the Auckland Transition Agency to take into account the Treaty or provide for a Maori contribution to local government decision-making—again as provided for in the Local Government Act 2002. That Act at least provides a foundation for encouraging Maori representation and I quote: “In order to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to take appropriate account of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and to maintain and improve opportunities for Maori to contribute to local government decision-making processes Parts 2 and 6 provide principles and requirements for local authorities that are intended to facilitate participation by Maori in local authority decision-making processes.” 
The legislation is there albeit not used as well as it might be. Even if councils were struggling to implement it that is not an excuse to get rid of it. If anything it should have been a wake-up call to the Government to enhance those provisions rather than toss them in the rubbish. Indeed one of the fundamental concerns raised at the 15 April hui hosted by Ngati Whatua o Orakei at Takaparawhau was the deep concern at the haste by which the decision to move on this was taken. That hui attended by Maori politicians community leaders and more than 500 others also expressed deep concern that it seems that the Government cannot even bring itself to honour the world’s greatest Polynesian city by giving three seats to the people who have been giving land to the settlement of Auckland for more than 200 years and who continue to graciously share what little land they still have with the people of Auckland right through to this very day; to honour the blood sweat and tears that the tangata whenua have shed to help make Auckland a jewel of the Pacific; to honour the partnership of the Treaty of Waitangi; or to honour the fact that Maori seats actually encourage Maori to participate because they see people in a system that is connected responsive and accountable to themselves. 
In the final analysis all we want is a guaranteed Maori presence at the table. The Maori Party has already proved that the only way to guarantee independent intelligent thoughtful and honest Maori representation at the national level is through the establishment and maintenance of independent Maori seats. What we seek for the good people of Auckland is nothing more nothing less. This bill is a tragic reminder that 170 years after our tupuna signed the Treaty of Waitangi the basis of partnership in this great country of ours we still have a very very long way to go. This bill is an insult to due process an insult to partnership an insult to justice and an insult to the mana whenua of Auckland. The Maori Party will be opposing this bill every step of the way. Kia ora tatou.