Flavell Te Ururoa: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:8553] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou e te Whare. This day in the House as with every day is a day on which the Maori Party has attempted to provide a template to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi in action. We do so in the best interests of this nation we say. It is a commitment we make as a partner in a relationship of a confidence and supply agreement with the National Party an agreement that was established on the premise and the promise that both parties will act in accordance with the Treaty. To do so we believe requires that no decision will be made without the support of Maori. I will say again that we believe that no decision will be made without the support of Maori. 
In essence that is what the Treaty is about. It requires the Maori voice. That is what the Maori Party affirms and it is a vision for governance that suggests that as provided for in the Treaty tangata whenua should have an equitable say in the decisions that affect them through Treaty-based representation. So today is a significant benchmark to assess how well the current Government is meeting its own responsibilities. 
This third and final bill to implement the Government’s governance arrangements for the Auckland region the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill is an opportunity to make right the wrongs incurred by previous efforts. The bill amends the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009 and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 to resolve further matters relating to the reorganisation of local government in Auckland. As the House is well aware the Maori Party vigorously opposed the first two bills to implement the Government’s governance arrangements for the Auckland region: the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. It would not be stretching the point too finely to say that about the only mention of Maori throughout these two bills was in a title and even then that came about as a rebuttal of the constant filibustering from members on the other side of the House. 
It was with pleasure that I listened in the House today to learn that members of the Labour Party had been reading the excellent releases and reports from the Maori Party including our statement of last week about Maori representation in local government. Research by Kahui Tautoko Consulting Ltd for the Department of Internal Affairs found that “key to effective participation and better decision making was having Maori representatives with the same status as other elected councillors.” It could not have been better timing to be told again that local government authorities work more effectively when they have Maori representation so in our haste to make decisions on the interim and transitional provisions for the operation of the Auckland City Council from 1 November 2010 Maori representation must surely be a given. 
The Kahui Tautoko Consulting research concluded that “setting aside seats for Maori on local councils should be viewed as an acknowledgment of the promise of partnership in the Treaty signed by Maori and the crown.” We have to ask ourselves then in considering the establishment of the various new governance arrangements in Auckland whether the interests of mana whenua are being taken into account. The bill contains provisions for the Auckland Council to be able to operate from its establishment on 1 February 2010 and within this there are provisions for a board to promote issues of significance for mana whenua and for Maori of Tamaki-makau-rau. 
A key plank for the Maori Party in our campaigning is to ensure that local governments acknowledge the authority of mana whenua so our co-leader and Associate Minister of Education the Hon Dr Pita Sharples determined that he would seek to develop a range of options that would help us to do that. During the early stages of this bill we as a party invested considerable resources into following the set of recommendations from the report of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. As members will recall there was a strong recommendation that Maori should be represented on the Auckland Council in the form of three seats to be shared between mana whenua and Maori. The royal commission also recommended the appointment of a mana whenua forum with powers to appoint members of Watercare Services’ Maori advisory group. It is now part of the shameful record that during the passage of this legislation the evidence brought forward from the royal commission was disregarded by the National-ACT coalition. 
I take us back to the points I made about the first bill in this series of three relating to Auckland governance. I talked about the quality of representation that we might consider would be involved in proper engagement. Quality representation would comprise a focus on partnership protection participation and pragmatism. Quality representation in local government would be best determined and demonstrated by a tight organisational structure an appropriate environment and leadership that promoted and enhanced the recognition of Maori values. Proper engagement would involve the protection of mana whenua of wahi tapu and of taonga Maori. Proper engagement would be expressed by meaningful and mutual beneficial participation of Maori in the council. Proper engagement would be in the practical means of maintaining and resourcing a consultative mechanism and a mechanism for tangata whenua and council to contribute to a decision-making process. 
Despite the royal commission’s definitive conclusions despite the calls from the people of Auckland and despite the submissions overwhelmingly in support of Maori representation and the statutory Maori board put up by my colleague Dr Sharples we find ourselves at this juncture still no further along the way. So I find myself turning to the deliberations from the hui held on 4 December 2009 at Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae in Auckland. That hui was entitled “Maori and Local Government—Beyond the Supercity: Ko tehea te huarahi tika?”. Dr Sharples announced the substance of the proposal about the independent statutory board but it would be fair to say that it did not receive the widespread endorsement of the hui. 
The purpose of the statutory board is to “promote cultural economic environmental and social issues of significance for mana whenua and Maori of Tamaki-makau-rau to assist the Auckland Council in making decisions performing functions and exercising powers.” It was a noble attempt but in effect it does not have any more powers than an advisory board. The council can be prompted by promoted to or guided by the board and it can consult the board and take into account its advice but all the decisions are still made by the council. When a decision is required such as the appointment of Maori members to select council committees the authority that oversees the decisions of the board is strictly governed by that council. 
Never ones to give up we have continued in the best of our tribal traditions to explore ways in which to amend the Local Government Act and subsequent super-city legislation to ensure the mandatory adoption of Maori seats at local government level. We have not been successful in this bill and we will oppose it therefore at its first reading. But we will never lose hope that the commitment to Treaty justice a commitment to partnership protection participation and pragmatism will live for another day. We in the Maori Party will be there to make sure that we hold the Government to account on that.