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19 March 2018 Long Term Plan Submissions Bay of Plenty Regional Council PO Box 364 Whakatāne 3158 LONG TERM PLAN 2018-28 SUBMISSION: TE RŪNANGA O NGĀTI AWA This is the submission of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa is constituted under Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa Act 2005, the Ngāti Awa Claims Settlement Act 2005 and the Ngāti Awa Deed of Settlement. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa is the Ngāti Awa Governance Entity representing 22 hapū comprising over 20447 registered members (as at 13 October 2017). Te Runanga o Ngati Awa and it’s community are tangata whenua, kaitiaki, landowners and ratepayers in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa supports (in principle) the submissions lodged by Ngāi Tamawera (a Ngāti Awa hapū), commenting on matters identified there in this submission. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa wishes to be heard at any hearing held for the Long-Term Plan, after Ngāi Tamawera hapu. If you require any further information about the contents of this submission, please direct enquiries to Ms Hughes, Manager Policy & Strategy, in the first instance. Naaku noa,
Leonie Simpson CHIEF EXECUTIVE
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BAY OF PLENTY REGIONAL COUNCIL LONG TERM PLAN 2018-28: TE RŪNANGA O NGĀTI AWA
The Maori Regional Community in the Bay of Plenty Region There are 35 iwi, over 260 hapu and 2241 marae in the Bay of Plenty region. Approximately 18 iwi have so far settled historic grievances with the Crown. Those iwi have achieved settlement statutes that include descriptions of their relationships, culture and traditions with their ancestral taonga, areas of interest, rights of first refusal areas, statutory areas, cultural redress land, commercial redress land and relationships with other ancestral land, water, sites, waahi tapu and other taonga that, like privately owned Maori Freehold land in the region, is subject to regional council consents and planning decisions. These settlement statutes came into effect at the date of ascent identified in each settlement statute. Council decisions about these places and resources should show how Council has recognised and provided for Maori relationships with each of them. Around 17 iwi in the region have not yet settled with the Crown, however they too have relationships, culture and traditions with their ancestral taonga, which must also be recognised and provided for in councils consents and planning decisions if Council is to meet its responsibilities for matters of national importance identified in Part II of the RMA. Over the years, many iwi, hapu and kaitiaki in the region have written cultural impacts assessments and responses that have contributed to Councils consents decisions under the RMA. Many have also engaged in meetings, forums and have lodged written submissions on planning provisions that also contribute to the regulations Council is developing for the region, including for those natural and physical resources that are also ancestral taonga of iwi and hapu. Council does not express recognition of that work or the time, resources and efforts invested by Maori and iwi authorities that have been made in development of these important contributions to Council decision-making. Council is encouraged to show how it will improve ways it ‘recognises and provides’ for section 6(e) matters and how it will ‘foster the capacity
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Source - Bay of Plenty Regional Council Website – Kaupapa Maori page
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of Maori to contribute to its decisions’ as outlined in section 81 of the Local Government Act 2002. Ongoing improvements to the ways Council staff undertake iwi and hapu engagement are needed if Council is to meet these statutory requirements in the post-settlement era we are experiencing in the region and New Zealand. The NPSFM is one important example of the need for Council to ensure its staff and decisionmakers are well equipped to develop and decide planning provisions for fresh water management that reflect tangata whenua values and interests for the region by using different means to foster that important contribution. This submission outlines some of the ways Council can invest in making better decisions that are more fully informed by the Maori regional community that Council also serves. Increasing Māori capacity within Council
Demonstrate commitment to the implementation of Matauranga Māori across the council by embedding it into processes, planning and operations that will be informed of Matauranga Maori initiatives through Councils work in partnership with Māori, iwi, hapu and kaitiaki
Te Runanga o Ngati Awa supports the efforts of the Maori policy section at Council and encourages Council to clarify and expand the extent to which staff in the Maori Policy section will grow Councils capability in iwi and hapu engagement in the region.
At a regional and sub-regional level, employ people who demonstrate they are equipped with skills, qualifications and experience in Maori resource management, Maori policy development, technical, scientific, Matauranga and Maori cultural values, relationships and interests. Invest in staff professional development seeking outcomes where they become demonstrably capable of involving and collaborating with iwi and hapu in engagement that will achieve better outcomes in giving effect to regional policy relevant to or affecting iwi, hapu, Maori and kaitiaki in the region.
Create regular informal sub-regional meeting events at which staff in Maori resource management and appropriate governance representatives can meet and discuss (without 4
prejudice) environmental matters of mutual interest or concern with the relevant staff, management and leadership at Council. Build rapport while avoiding the establishment of additional quango’s that can obfuscate matters and decision-making and undermine the purpose of existing committees and forums. Consider the benefits once felt by Council staff when the former Maori Regional Representative Committees operated to provide a ‘sounding board’ to Council staff before they engaged with the Maori regional community and the wider community, in development and implementation of regional regulation.
Fostering iwi/hapū capacity and improving engagement processes
To give effect to the 2017 Resource Management Act amendments, increased practical and financial support is needed for iwi and hapū entities to enable and enhance effective engagement. Greater participation and the recovery of costs when iwi and hapū contribute to council led and initiated processes and legislative compliance required of councils that such matters like, for example, the establishment of Te Mana Whakahono a Rohe Agreements can be supported. These collaborative agreements are a mechanism to formally record how iwi authorities will participate in the preparation, change or review of policies and plans and should be actively fostered within Council.
Ensuring the outcomes of engagement with Māori (e.g. their korero, their written responses and verbal and written assessments) are recognised as assisting Council to meet its obligations to Māori under Part II matters in the Resource Management Act.
Recognise that Council can foster the capacity of Maori to contribute its decision-making. Time and resource is required at iwi authority level. Iwi that employ staff or who support their volunteer’s contributions to Councils decision-making, have no statutory duty to do so as this obligation to demonstrate how Councils recognise and provide for s6e matters, is with Councils. Iwi pay rates and more and more of them are employing staff whose role is to prepare material that contributes to Council decision-making. It is time for Council to recognise ways in which it can foster the capacity of Maori, and it is best able to design those ways when it engages with iwi authorities that routinely make those contributions to councils consents and planning processes.
Supporting Māori professional development
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Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa encourages Council to continue to provide opportunities for Māori to attend workshops, training, conferences and professional development offered by Council such at Biennial Māori Conferences.
Te Runanga o Ngati Awa also encourages Council to enable its staff to attend and participate in similar events that are initiated and provided by iwi and hapu of the region.
Te Runanga o Ngati Awa strongly supports and appreciates Councils ongoing sponsorship of iwi and hapu representative’s attendance and certification as Hearing Commissioners, including recertification. This important investment fosters the capacity of Maori to contribute to Council decision-making.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa encourages council to continue recruiting summer students to the Māori policy team at Toi Moana and equipping them with valuable skills, experience and practice in giving effect to the Maori policies, provisions and operations undertaken by staff in all areas of council. This work experience is valuable for career pathways in the environmental sector and provides potential human resources to iwi authorities to assist with their p environmental research and projects.
Environmental and Economic Wellbeing
Recognise that those Maori people who are contributing to projects and programmes of work relevant to Councils functions, would, without the financial contributions of Council, are either paying for their involvement and contributing their time freely. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa encourages Council to support the allocation of budgeted funding that supports this important contribution which is currently supporting works undertaken by Council’s Land Management teams (e.g. Te Hekenga o Nga Tuna Project), the Rivers & Drainage teams Kopeopeo Remediation project and many other projects and activities across the region. We would like to see this kind of activity grow and believe Council can foster its growth by supporting those efforts financially.
We encourage Council to invest in identifying alternatives to using aquathol k and diquat (aquatic weed management chemicals) used in water bodies across the region. The Waikato University seat in the Te Arawa Lakes management regime is an ideal construct with which to invest in alternatives that are scientifically supportable and able to be tested with tangata
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whenua there who are continuously demonstrating their ongoing commitment to lakes and fresh water management of this ongoing environmental issue.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa supports the positive outcomes of Toi Moana environmental education initiative in schools and would like to see this retained and expanded by Council, by integrating those events with events undertaken by kura kaupapa and other Maori subregional kura.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa supports Councils engagement with Māori economic stakeholders to develop strategies for the appropriate and sustainable development of Māori Freehold Land and urges regional council to invest in professional development of its relevant staff who must make advancements in understanding the peculiarities of Maori land tenure, and the issues affecting development of Maori freehold land and commercial redress land returned to Maori.
The implementation of the Rangitaiki River Review Report post the Edgecumbe flood event must be designed and implemented with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa input and support
The Terms of Reference for the Rangitaiki River Forum are due for review and this too should be undertaken in close collaboration with iwi with relationships with the Rangitaiki River
Māori Representation
Re-establish Māori Regional Representation Committees which can be convened to guide staff delivery of new policy or reviewed policy for the Māori regional community. Consider the benefits once felt by Council staff when the former Maori Regional Representative Committees operated to provide a ‘sounding board’ to Council staff before they engaged with the Maori regional community and the wider community, in development and implementation of regional regulation.
Responses to consultation questions: Rivers and Drainage Flood Recovery -
recommend option 2
Public Transport –
recommend option 1
Biosecurity –
recommend option 3
Emergency Management –
recommend option 2
Regional Development –
recommend option 3 7
Summary Thank you for the opportunity to submit to the Long-Term Plan. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa encourages Council to review and improve the resourcing and educating of Council staff to meet statutory responsibilities to Māori. Understanding statutory provisions relating to Māori is essential for effective decision making and can improve relationships between Māori, Councils and communities in this postsettlement era of NZ’s history.
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