Delahunty Catherine: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Delahunty Catherine: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6478] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 I must say that I enjoyed the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee a lot more than I am enjoying this debate. There was much less shouting and bad acting and there was actually a lot more concentration on the issues at hand. I would like to return to one of the issues at hand which is that I acknowledge the comments made by some of the earlier speakers about the people who are marginalised through the structural processes of this bill. It was good to hear from Nikki Kaye that youth and disability groups will receive some attention in the third bill although I did not hear any acknowledgment of the call by Pasifika and Asian groups for advisory committees. I certainly did not hear any more acknowledgment or recognition of the issues of Maori seats and mana whenua so I am going to return to that topic. I want to talk about it in terms of the history of local government and Maori representation. 
Local government has an appalling history of addressing mana whenua issues in Tamaki and indeed right across the motu. That is parallel with a fairly bad record on environmental issues. If members do not believe me they should just ask the kaitiaki of Tikapa Moana the Hauraki Gulf; or ask Ngati Whatua ki Orakei about Okahu Bay; or ask Ngati Te Ata about the Manukau Harbour which has been used as a toilet for a long time ever since the council moved the toilet there from the Waitemata; or ask Ngati Te Ata about the wahi tapu on the Awhitu Peninsula. Beyond Tamaki right across this country public toilets and landfills and marinas and subdivisions have regularly been built on wahi tapu and kai moana beds all legally consented to by local government. There are endless ghastly instances of sacred sites and food sources being trampled on by local councils. 
In the last few years some councils have faced the mirror to some degree with regard to the marginalisation of tangata whenua as first-nation people and indeed in terms of other groups that are not made up of older wealthier Pakeha people and that have not managed to get on to local councils. Some of that leadership for change comes from Tamaki from Waitakere City Council and Manukau City Council. Manukau City Council in particular has been strong on te Tiriti dialogue and cultural recognition. That is not to say it has a totally healthy te Tiriti - based relationship with mana whenua but at least it has sought advice from wise heads. We look to lose a lot if we lose that kind of spirit. In contrast with that the Auckland City Council has not been a shining light of cultural respect towards tangata whenua. From the community board level where in many instances it has failed to give donations and grants to Maori groups right through to the mayoralty it is hard to recall a single act of real power-sharing instigated by Auckland City Council despite the best efforts of advisory groups including the leadership of Ngati Whatua ki Orakei. What does this mean for the future? 
Su’a William Sio has talked about the structural failings of this bill. He is correct that local council rhetoric or indeed Crown rhetoric about diversity is meaningless without a structural reflection in the law. We have a sorry history in local government in terms of te Tiriti abuse but we had an opportunity to change that. The mana whenua and Maori seats issues were like a small light at the end of a dark tunnel of structural racism and privilege. But what the hell—what have we done? We are saying Pakeha can represent all those other issues; we do not need the Maori seats. Yet Pakeha have consistently failed and have demonstrated an absolute inability to respond to Maori views and values. We certainly cannot be said to represent Maori so why do we not have the Maori seats? 
It is indeed with great regret that I continue to raise this matter. I do feel that a really strong opportunity for change was lost here. As I said in an earlier speech to the Committee the issue was about what the submitters wanted. It is with great sadness that I hear people talk about the need for a strong forward-moving regional unified new authority when the core opportunity for it to have strength unity and a regional perspective on many issues to do with resource management with the environment and with justice which would have been heard through the Maori seats is lost. Kia ora.