Secret negotiations between the Office of Treaty Settlements and Western Bay of Plenty Maori tribes over plans for iwi to secure management rights over waterways and the Tauranga Harbour could end up costing ratepayers.
The potential impact of the confidential negotiations on ratepayers in the Western Bay was highlighted by Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby during a council meeting yesterday.
Mr Crosby was unhappy that the price of council participation on negotiations into the management of public assets by iwi was that the council could not disclose details to the community until the draft settlement package was made public early next year.
He said there needed to be an upfront process to progress the issues in a more open and transparent process.
Councillor Murray Guy was frustrated that the Office of Treaty Settlements report could not be brought out of confidential. Instead he successfully urged the council to release its response to the confidential Treaty settlement workshop held on December 13.
The workshop introduced most Western Bay councillors to the impact on local government from the proposed treaty settlement.
The brief two-page report released at yesterday's meeting noted key issues, including that the Government had agreed to guidelines for the Crown to contribute to local government and iwi costs arising from "new natural resource arrangements".
It said that tangata whenua were seeking greater involvement in natural resources management. The paper defined natural resources as water, the harbour and waterways that enter the harbour and the sea.
"Tangata whenua want to secure a greater role in the decision making, not to just be consulted with as another stakeholder."
The reason for the Office of Treaty Settlements engaging with the councils was to enable councils to develop a framework for iwi involvement in managing natural resources.
The Office will need to have a paper ready to go to Cabinet by late March.
Cr Guy opposed the council entering the negotiations, saying it ran the risk of being captured by the process and disenfranchising the community.
The March timeframe was not enough time to create a degree of understanding with the community about the issues. "It is a huge issue for the community to grapple with."
Council chief executive Ken Paterson said the approach by previous Governments was to foister the outcomes of Treaty settlements on local government. However last year the Government decided to involve councils in order to get a local government dimension.
He said the Office of Treaty Settlements and iwi would only go to the community when they were close to a deed of settlement.
Cr Larry Baldock said the community could make submissions to the draft deed of settlement but his experience of past settlements was that nothing had been changed following submissions.
He said that while the council may be aggrieved about aspects of the process, it was Maori that had been waiting for redress of what were genuine grievances. "We want to bring the community with us."
Cr Baldock was concerned that nothing was being done to educate the community on the treaty settlement in the Western Bay.
Cr Bill Faulkner was sympathetic with Cr Guy's stand, saying he was under no illusions that it would all get dumped on ratepayers.
However, like the rest of the council, he agreed they had to be part of the process.