Sharples Pita: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
Sharples Pita: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:675;Page:14444] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Chairman. Te Tiriti o Waitangi promised the protection of Maori custom and cultural values. The guarantee of rangatiratanga in article 2 was an investment in the rights of tangata whenua to possess and control that which is ours. It was a strong declaration about the value that the Crown saw in its relationship with Maori yet local and national legislation has consistently sought to minimise the strength of such a relationship by making consultation an added extra—a discretionary provision available for the Crown to choose whether it would seek a relationship with tangata whenua. 
The Local Government Act 2002 outlines principles of consultation for local authorities. It suggests that councils must provide reasonable access to relevant information in an appropriate manner and format and that they must provide clear information about the purpose and scope of that consultation. The Local Government Act 2002 also mandated councils to give emphasis to the participation and involvement of Maori in local authority decision-making processes. Principles are one thing; putting them into practice is quite another. 
In 2004 Local Government New Zealand and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet surveyed 86 councils to identify practices used by councils in consultation with Maori. Over 90 percent of the authorities had established processes for informal consultation yet the findings of the survey were revealing. The survey concluded: “How effective these processes were or are is not known; but the survey does show that consultation processes do exist.” It is not good enough that processes are established but lack evidence on whether they are actually used and lack evidence that tangata whenua find them to be usable and appropriate. Indeed a recent study of Maori in local government  
He Wharemoa te Rakau ka Mahue 
 by Christine Cheyne and Veronica Tawhai concluded that structural changes to council processes are needed to ensure tangata whenua involvement in local decision-making. 
The Local Government Act 2002 also makes it clear that the Treaty obligations are the Crown’s and the role of local government is to help the Crown fulfil these Treaty obligations by providing opportunities for active participation in local and regional governance. Therefore the amendments in my Supplementary Order Paper 173 which amends clauses 23B and 24 and inserts new clause 28AA seek to clarify the relationships and also to ensure a level of specificity is adopted in order to achieve quality outcomes for all. In essence the amendments will ensure a mandatory rather than a discretionary obligation on the Crown or local authority to enter into deeds of acknowledgment with tangata whenua in relation to the land within the area specified in the bill. 
Clause 23B identifies the tangata whenua encompassed in this bill as Ngati Whatua and Te Kawerau-a-Maki. Clause 24 details what would be included in a deed of acknowledgment; a deed that would be entered into through consultation. Clause 28AA places a positive duty on the relevant local authorities—namely Auckland Regional Council Waitakere City Council and Rodney District Council—to “establish and maintain processes to provide opportunities for Ngati Whatua and Te Kawerau A Maki to contribute to the decision-making processes” of these bodies. I want to particularly acknowledge Waitakere City Council Ngati Whatua and Te Kawerau-a-Maki for the constructive role they have played in working through the amendments. 
Our desire in bringing these amendments to the Committee today is to ensure that adequate and proper consultation occurs as a fundamental tenet of a healthy democracy. We believe that if the Crown via local authorities is to take appropriate account of the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to maintain and approve opportunities for Maori to contribute to local government decision-making processes then it is helpful to spell out the terms of the relationship in detail. We believe that our amendments to clauses 23B 24 and 28AA fill in the detail necessary to articulate the way in which the historical traditional cultural and spiritual relationships of tangata whenua to the heritage area can be best expressed and we welcome the support of the Committee to this effect. Thank you Mr Chairman.