Halbert ShananSHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā rawa atu ki a koe. Ki te kaunihera ki Ngāti Whakaue Te Arawa tēnā rawa atu ki a koutou katoa. Ngā māreikura ngā whatukura o te motu tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Mr Speaker warm greetings to you. To the council to Ngāti Whakaue and Te Arawa warm greetings to you all. To the esteemed members from around the country greetings greetings greetings one and all.]I've been reflecting over the past week since we've been having the debate the discussion of co-governance and I look into those two words and think does this reflect the mature debate that we are having as a country? Does it reflect the aspirations and the opportunity for all New Zealanders?But I come back to this piece of legislation the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill. I acknowledge the Rotorua Lakes District Council for their courage—that they have thought through considerably on this piece of work about how they can elevate representation for Māori; be better representatives for their rohe; but ensure that they are creating greater outcomes for all of their people and their communities families and tamariki that are there.This bill specifies representation arrangements to apply to the next two tri-annual general elections of the Rotorua District Council. These arrangements would conform with the findings of a representation review held by the council in 2021 but are not currently enabled under the Local Electoral Act 2001. I look again at this conversation and I think for Rotorua and in this debate we're playing a greater role here—we're educating our communities we're educating Aotearoa. We're having a respectful and a mature debate—not sure about a couple of speeches ago. But it does offer us all the opportunity to think about how we can better govern our country how we can better fulfil our Te Tiriti obligations how we can better protect our environment—a critical role of such councils like Rotorua District Council in this particular one. What this does is it sets up a new structure for the council: one mayor elected at large; one Māori ward with three seats—Te Ipu Wai Taketake ward; one general ward with three seats—Te Ipu Arukari ward; four at-large seats; a Rotorua Lakes Community Board; and a Rotorua Rural Community Board. That is wonderful representation. It covers all four corners of Rotorua of Te Arawa of Ngati Whakaue. And you know there are tensions and challenges but it's about the steps that we take as Māori as non-Māori in this country. As somebody having both Māori and Pakeha decent—both cultures that I'm really really proud of—I'm blessed really that I'm able to have a unique perspective where I see the value of such pieces of legislation like this. Sadly I listened to member Simon Watts the Opposition's spokesperson for local government; together we are representatives on Auckland's North Shore and over there we've got a lot of work to do. We've got to partner much more closely with our mana whenua. We need to reflect some of the progress that other parts of Tāmaki-makau-rau—Auckland—have made in being better Te Tiriti partners. So to hear that he and the Opposition aren't supporting this particular bill this afternoon is disappointing. It's against their candidate for Rotorua Lakes Council that I heard on the AM Show earlier in the week against her view. While I disagree with her that co-governance nationally isn't a great thing her view was that locally it is a very good thing.So this particular piece of legislation is totally a step in the right direction. I acknowledge Rotorua Lakes Council for the courage the bravery that they have taken the steps towards progress at being better representatives for all people in Rotorua to make progress in this very very deep important sensitive yet progressive conversation of co-governance. I commend this bill to the House.