Flavell Te Ururoa: Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill — Third Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3726] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora ra. Thank you very much. 
Over the last 3 days of debate it has been hard to remember what the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau) Bill is all about. It is not about the “Cousins and Aunts and Uncles of Maui Council” the “Melissa Lee Memorial Council” or the “Auckland Funsized Council”. The bill is the next step on from the Government’s decision on Auckland governance.  
Making Auckland Greater 
 is said to be about greater communities greater connections and greater value. Perhaps it would have been more appropriately called  
Making Auckland Divided 
; it is about great shame great waste and great failure. The great shame is that after a robust consultation process and a comprehensive report from the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance the Government has hastily rejected any suggestion to provide for specific Maori representation. The great waste is the Government’s apparent disregard for mana whenua interests in establishing the Auckland Transition Agency. The great failure is the almost certain probability based on the current performance that in a region that has by far the highest Maori population in the world there will be limited representation of Maori—if any. 
The caption that Maori Television has applied to this key news item is the Superman shield. It is most appropriate to use this graphic to demonstrate the bill. The bill purports to be more powerful than any legislation seen before it. It is able to leap 50 years of controversy in a single bound. Based on a legislative process that will be faster than a speeding bullet this bill will indeed set up “Supermayor”—a mayor of steel who controls one super overarching local authority for Auckland sweeping out of its way three district councils four city councils seven mayors elected at large and 96 territorial authority councillors. But as any comic book fan will tell you the blue red and yellow cape of the superhero is eventually hung up as Clark Kent resumes his real persona as the mild-mannered low-level employee of  
The Daily Planet 
. 
The real issue behind the widespread opposition to the super-city proposal is that Aucklanders want to be heard and they want their issues to be respected. They want the views they put forward in over 3500 submissions to carry some weight. They do not want a sham deal or the façade of making Auckland greater while all they can see around them is the dismantling of arrangements to encourage participation in local authority decision-making. 
Our focus throughout this bill has honed in on the significant level of concern expressed throughout Tamaki about the issue of Maori representation. In case there is confusion in this Committee Maori living in Tamaki-makau-rau do not need a super-mayor a super-council or anything else to tell them how they could be represented; they know for themselves. 
On 29 October last year the Tamaki Regional Mana Whenua Forum was established. It derived its mandate from the 13 mana whenua authorities within the Tamaki region. When talk has been bandied about the traps about one or two seats for mana whenua I think it is only fitting to remind the Committee of the iwi and the hapu who affiliate to the local authorities across this region. The mana whenua groups are Ngai Tai Ngati Manuhiri Ngati Maru Ngati Paoa Ngati Rehua Ngati Te Ata - Wai o Hua Ngati Tamaoho Ngati Tamatera Ngati Whanaunga Ngati Whatua Te Ahiwaru Te Akitai and Te Kawerau-a-Maki. 
One of the many names for the Tamaki area is Tamaki Herenga Waka—Tamaki the resting place of many canoes. This is part of the history of Tamaki-makau-rau. Ancestors arriving from Hawaiki either berthed at Tamaki and made it their home or used it as a resting place before continuing on with their journey as  
Tainui  
did at Kawhia and as my waka  
Te Arawa 
 did before heading down the coast to the Maketu region in the Bay of Plenty. So in the tribal histories of many people—including Ngati Awa Haurakai-Waikato and Ngati Whatua—our tupuna lived in Tamaki at one time or another. Maori representation must take into account the rangatiratanga of the iwi and hapu who whakapapa back to this land. 
It was pleasing to hear earlier in the debate the Minister for Local Government Rodney Hide state categorically that it is clear that proper engagement with local iwi and the new Auckland Council will be crucial for the new council to succeed. Our contribution throughout the debate on this local government bill has been to spell out exactly what proper engagement might involve. My colleague Hone Harawira himself of Ngati Whatua talked about partnership protection participation and pragmatism. Proper engagement will be seen in the maintenance of an organisational structure environment and leadership that promotes and enhances the recognition of Maori values. Proper engagement is about the protection of mana whenua of wahi tapu and of taonga Maori. Proper engagement is demonstrated by meaningful and mutually beneficial participation of Maori in the council. Proper engagement will be seen in the practical means of maintaining and resourcing a consultative mechanism and a mechanism for tangata whenua and the council to contribute to a decision-making process. Partnership protection participation and pragmatism do not have to be too hard. 
During the second reading the Associate Minister of Local Government John Carter rose to his feet and said: “this Government is about consulting.” We ask the Minister and his associate how rushing this bill through under urgency enables a robust consultation process to occur. I want to read a letter from Michelle Wilson of the Tamaki Regional Mana Whenua Forum. She said: “The forum strongly disagrees with the Government’s failure to appropriately act upon the recommendations of the royal commission and the lack of consultation with mana whenua in order to provide for appropriate Maori representation. As a result there is a lack of provision from the Crown’s agent the Government to their Treaty partner. This is a clear breach of the intent and principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.” 
This sort of statement was reiterated in the strongest terms by the Ngati Whatua o Orakei chairperson Grant Hawke on the day the Government’s announcement for Greater Auckland was made. Mr Hawke’s views were that the move was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and that Maori would continue to be under-represented at the local level. It was at this point that plans started to unfold about a hikoi proposed across Greater Auckland on 25 May of this year. It appears that that hikoi has mobilised Pasifika communities ethnic communities and other New Zealanders who are uniting to stand up for the right to quality and equitable Maori representation. 
We have all received an enormous amount of correspondence from Aucklanders concerned about this issue and I conclude my speech with one of those letters from Mona-Lynn from North Shore City. She said: “As an immigrant to this country I believe that if Maori have special status they need to be treated specially and Maori seats on the Auckland Council is one of the ways that this needs to happen. I do not feel threatened by these seats and do not feel that the way I will be served as a citizen of Auckland will be any worse off if these seats exist.” Mona-Lynn has the generosity of spirit and breadth of vision to know that for this super-city to succeed proper engagement with Maori must occur. 
The opportunity to provide for quality Maori representation is all that we are asking for and have been asking for yet in this bill Maori barely rate a mention. I say that no change of name to the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau) Bill will ever really cut it by itself. If it is good enough for the Government to claim the name Tamaki-makau-rau and add it into this bill as the title surely it is good enough for the Government to listen to the claim of Maori in the area and give something back. Let them have seats as of right. This is not the planet Krypton. We are not debating an entirely different galaxy; we are talking about Aotearoa and Tamaki-makau-rau and therefore we should be talking about tangata whenua. The Maori Party will be opposing this bill—as we are opposing all elements of this suite of super-city proposals.