Selwyn Parata (right) - tangata whenua want to be engaged.
The Freshwater and Natural Resources Iwi Leaders' groups have applauded the "gains" achieved by the Maori Party in amending the government's Resource Management Act this week.
"The Maori Party has negotiated significant concessions that, on balance, we believe move tangata whenua a significant step forwards in ensuring the RMA, arguably the Act with the most significant impact on our lands and waterways, begins to enable giving effect to our role as kaitiaki," Natural Resources group chairman Selwyn Parata said.
The many hui convened by the group across the country in recent years had seen iwi, hapu, whanau and Maori trusts and incorporations consistently relay the view that if Maori were at the decision-making table regarding the management and governance of natural resources, the state of the Taiao would not be in such a poor condition, and genuine, sustainable economic development would not just be an aspiration, but a reality.
That advocacy and technical work, carried out by the group with Ministers to make changes to the operating framework, had now been also supported by the Maori Party in the recent amendments.
Working closely with the Freshwater Iwi Advisers' Group, the Maori Party's creation of Mana Whakahono a rohe agreements in the RMA were a step forward for those iwi and hapu who had been turned away from the decision-making table, Mr Parata added.
The inclusion of Mana Whakahono a Rohe agreements, one of the most significant amendments pertaining to Maori since the Act became law in 1991, created the legislative requirement for councils to make formal agreements on a range of resource management issues, including decision-making on the initiation of any iwi.
And, for the first time, hapu agreements under the Mana Whakahono a Rohe were enabled, under certain circumstances, giving effect to mana wai and mana whenua at a hapu level under the Act.
"Mana Whakahono a Rohe agreements and the other gains made by the Maori Party provide a new platform for iwi and hapu to engage with councils that will support councils to (achieve) clarity over how tangata whenua want to be engaged with and to encourage the wealth of knowledge held by Maori communities to be better shared to protect our natural environments for all New Zealanders, for today and for tomorrow," he said.
Among other changes, the Maori Party had been able to significantly reduce the original proposed powers of the Minister for the Environment (Section 360D). The Iwi Leaders' Group supported the Maori Party's acknowledgement that Maori and many non-Maori had a view to ensure that the powers of the Minister were kept tightly ring-fenced.
That had been achieved by reducing the list of powers from four key areas to one - looking at rules or types of rules that duplicated or overlapped with the same subject matter that was included in other legislation.
On that remaining matter, the Minister had to go through significant "hoops" that were not in the original proposals, including public consultation and a Section 32 report.
"These areas may not go far enough for some, but on balance, with the rest of the gains made from the calls of our Maori communities, we are confident that this is a vast improvement on the previous drafts for our own exercise of kaitiakitanga," Mr Parata said.
"We know compromises have to be made in politics, but when looking across all the changes the Maori Party has been able to make, which are broad, and with the recent threat of removal of Maori sections of the RMA by other parties, these changes put our people in a strong position to advocate for their own views around the council table."