National Māori leader Pita Tipene stands for Northland Regional Council

Pita Tipene has announced he will be standing as a councillor for Northland Regional Council at the coming local elections. Photo / Dean Purcell

Prominent New Zealand leader Pita Tipene is throwing his hat into the ring to stand as a councillor for Northland Regional Council at the coming local elections.

Tipene (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Te Tarawa) is standing in the council’s Te Raki Māori constituency, which he said Northlanders should poll to keep at the October elections.

The 64-year-old is standing to be one of nine Northland Regional Council (NRC) politicians, who will choose the council chair after the local elections. In contrast, those wanting to be district council mayors stand for that position from the outset.

The former Waitangi National Trust chairman was last month made a Companion of the King’s Service Order for his 30 years of service to the Māori community through governance and leadership.

His honour came after also receiving the Tai Tokerau Māori Business Leader Award at the Te Taitokerau Māori Business Excellence Awards in March.

Kawakawa’s Tipene grew up on a farm in the remote central Northland rural community of Motatau, the ninth of 11 children.

He said governance was about listening and hearing, facilitating the collective wisdom of the team.

He believed it was also about being able to move forward when there are often many disparate views by gathering these and making decisions that not everyone would necessarily be happy with – but moving forward was the goal in making constructive progress.

Tipene said regional councils have an important part to play in sustainably managing the environment.

He disagreed with recent comments from Regional Development Minister – and former St Stephens School student peer – Shane Jones that regional councils should go.

Tipene said regional councils had an important role in economic development, but not at the expense of the environment, and in community resilience through civil defence functions.

But he said it was time for a review of how they operated, given changes to the Resource Management Act on which they were predicated.

Māori have a key role to play in Northland’s sustainable environmental management, said Tipene.

“It’s really important for Northland to prosper and for our environment to be sustainable we need all people, including Māori. to be involved in that.

“I hope I can weave the people within all our communities together.”

The Te Kahu o Taonui (Northland Iwi Chairs) member is already closely involved with local government – co-chairing NRC’s Te Ruarangi Māori committee and Far North District Council’s Te Kuaka – Te Ao Māori Committee.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.