Iwi reluctantly on board

Ngati Whatua will participate in the Super City's Maori advisory board but only because there is no other option, leaders say.

Last year the iwi with Tainui said they would consider boycotting any advisory council after the Government rejected Maori seats.

Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua chairwoman Naida Glavish said the tribe had always engaged with the city's leadership.

It would reluctantly participate in the board because it had been backed into a corner.

"It is not the ideal position for Ngati Whatua. We're at the rock and a hard place in terms of quality engagement or any form of quality participation. It's the best of nothing.

"We're not pleased at all ... there's a continued ignorance and a lack of goodwill and a lack of desire to appreciate what mana whenua have to offer which is of benefit to the city."

Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board chairman Grant Hawke said the advisory board would only be seen as an "interim step to real representation".

He said the board would be lightweight and would not replace direct consultation with the hapu - something it considered a council Treaty obligation.

It was looking forward however, to working with other iwi to "holding the council to account for its decisions".

Tainui executive chairman Tuku Morgan could not be contacted for comment. The Auckland Transition Agency said Te Puni Kokiri (the Maori Development Ministry) was leading the work on what the board would look like.