Concern raised at proposed Tauranga Maori seats

Tauranga City Council chambers. Photo/file

A joint committee of tangata whenua and the Tauranga City Council steered a neutral course today on the potentially contentious issue of separate Maori representation on the council.

The Tauranga Moana Tangata Whenua Collective is seeking better representation on the council by the creation of a city-wide Maori Ward.

However today's meeting of the Tangata Whenua/City Council Committee opted to simply note the collective's stance and leave the issue to be decided by the full meeting of the council on November 17.

Options facing the council were spelt out today by the council's legal and governance manager Kirsty Downey-McGuire. The council could stick with the status quo of having no Maori Ward, agree to introduce a ward or initiate a poll of electors and let the public decide.

If the council opposed a Maori Ward, a poll could be initiated by a member of the public provided they got the backing of 5 percent of electors (4237 people) for the poll.

The committee's independent chairman Huikakahu Kawe congratulated members for "all acting like ladies and gentleman" in reaching the consensus.

Most of the debate revolved around the technicalities of a Maori Ward, with Councillor John Robson expressing the strongest caution about a separate ward for Maori. He said the councillors who represented the city's existing three wards - Mount/Papamoa, Otumoetai/Pyes Pa, and Te Papa/Welcome Bay - would not be able to represent people on the Maori roll. "That concerns me greatly."

Councillor Bill Grainger was concerned with the number of councillors remaining at 10 if a Maori Ward was added to the mix.

Ms Downey-McGuire said the council must decide by November 23 on the Maori Ward. If the decision was to have the ward, then that would feed into the 2016 election's representation review which needed to be completed by the end of August next year.