First shots fired in Maori seat bid

The first volleys have been fired in what was expected to become a controversial push for a separate Maori seat on Tauranga City Council.
Councillor Rick Curach said the idea of a separate Maori seat was divisive and not the silver bullet answer to Maori aspirations for representation.
Cr Curach adopted a more blunt approach yesterday when council cautiously dipped its toe into the water on an issue requiring a decision by November 28. This allows time for other processes to happen prior to the next election in 2010, including the possibility of a referendum.
Yesterday's three-hour representation review workshop included participation by prominent Maori.
The meeting was more about understanding what needs to happen over the next few months, although Maori made it clear their preference was to get a Maori seat on council.
Cr Curach said that at the end of the day, it was only one person sitting around the table, whereas there were better ways to do it.
"What difference can one person make _ you are only one in 10," he said.
He added that the Maori seat decision needed to be made "around this table" because everyone knew that the outcome of a poll would be the majority saying no to separate representation.
Mayor Stuart Crosby wanted Maori feedback on whether one representative would give Maori better engagement than what it already had.
"There are no guarantees that future councils will give you both."
Mr Crosby was referring to the current arrangements in which Maori had input into council decisions via the tangata whenua/council committee, the wastewater management review committee, project steering groups, iwi and hapu protocols, and the informal kaumatua forum and tangata whenua collective.
He said it was a real issue which Maori should consider over the next few weeks.
Pio Kawe said a Maori councillor would be there to add value to all council decisions and to also help put a stronger emphasis on Maori values _ not just be one vote in 10.
He said the public perception would see it as separatism but what they were trying to achieve was the right mix of Maori representation.
Tangata whenua/council committee chairman Huikakahu Kawe said Maori did not want to give up what had been gained but it was about partnership principles set out in the Treaty of Waitangi and how that operated in the council.
"We are talking about the lives of tangata whenua in Tauranga Moana."
Ngaronoa Reweti-Ngata said: "We are not just a community of interest.
"We are tangata whenua, the people of the land, and we have rights under the Treaty of Waitangi."
The review will also decide whether to stick with the first-past-the-post (FPP) voting system or go to the single transferable vote (STV) system.
Cr Hayden Evans supported FPP, saying it was less confusing to the "average joe on the street".
Once decisions were made on the voting system and Maori seat issue, the council will review the system of representation, including the number of councillors and whether to stick with a mixture of wards and at-large seats, or drop the three remaining wards.