Iwi talks cost ratepayers $3.4m a year

By STEPHEN COOK

Auckland ratepayers are spending more than $600,000 a year consulting Maori.

Most of the money has been spent on contract payments and meeting costs.

Figures given to the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act show that for the 2003 financial year, the country's largest city, district and regional councils spent about $3.4 million on iwi consultation.

The spending has prompted claims of extortion from one MP, who says councils are "being held to ransom" by iwi groups who are profiting at the expense of ordinary ratepayers.

Consultation with Maori is a requirement of the Local Government and Resource Management Acts.

The biggest spenders among the 65 councils the Weekend Herald polled were Environment Bay of Plenty ($454,000), the Hamilton City Council ($385,000), Greater Wellington Regional Council ($321,000) and the Waitakere City Council ($315,000).

Collectively, the four city councils in Greater Auckland - Waitakere, Auckland, North Shore and Manukau - spent $612,900.

Waitakere paid more than half of that. Its $315,000 mostly went towards contract payments to Maori and iwi liaison, and meeting and staff costs.

Manukau spent $158,000, Auckland $104,000 and North Shore $35,000.

Councils in the Bay of Plenty spent $668,515, followed closely by the three councils in the Waikato, which spent $658,836.

The Act Party's local government spokesman, Ken Shirley, claimed this week that the spending could not be justified, especially as councils were not required to consult other groups.

Maori had been singled out for special treatment solely because of race and were now holding councils to ransom, he said.


"The problem with iwi consultation is that Labour has singled out one group based on their race and passed a law for mandatory consultation."

Greater Wellington Regional councillor Rosemarie Thomas agreed, saying the situation had got "completely out of hand" throughout the country.

Councils were being fleeced by some iwi who were profiting at the expense of ratepayers.

A spokesman for Local Government Minister Chris Carter dismissed those claims, saying the figures were not high.

If the $3.4 million figure were averaged out, it amounted to only $53,000 for each of the 65 councils surveyed.

He also said that councils, not the Government, decided how much was spent consulting the community.

"The Local Government Act requires that councils consult with all of their communities more effectively," the spokesman said.

"It does specify that Maori need to be consulted, but that doesn't mean they need to be consulted any more or less than anyone else."

Environment Bay of Plenty chief executive Jeff Jones said Maori were significant property-owners in the Bay and made up a large proportion of the province's population.

"We are not being held to ransom. It doesn't mean that whatever they say, we do. We listen to their point of view and have regard for it."

Colin Bidois of the Ngati Ranginui Iwi Society also rejected criticism of Maori consultation costs.

He said that in the Bay of Plenty, tangata whenua worked alongside local authorities for the benefit of the entire community.

Maori were large stakeholders in the area, and it was only fitting they were consulted on issues such as land transport and water.