Māori appointments finally fill South Taranaki gaps

South Taranaki District Council. Photo / NZME

South Taranaki has a full house of Māori representatives after filling gaps on three council committees and two advisory groups for the first time.

The appointments were made by South Taranaki District Council’s iwi committee Te Kāhui Matauraura this week, as part of the council’s obligation to “provide opportunities for Māori to contribute to decision-making” under the Local Government Act and the Resource Management Act.

Appointment to the committees comes with voting rights, whereas mayor Phil Nixon said portfolio groups didn’t hold “any powers as such”.

“These two portfolio groups are just really information type, information sharing … but it’s a really good place to be to learn what’s going on, what’s coming up, and offer any suggestions,” he said.

Tāne Houston was picked for the Environment and Hearings Committee and the District Plan Review Committee.

Houston works as a lead ranger on the Haumanuhia te Hononga Taiao partnership programme between Te Korowai o Ngāruahine and the Taranaki Mounga Project, and also mentors at-risk youth through the Rongo Taua Trust, and is on the board of the Kai Kitchen Trust.

Marie Broughton will sit on the Risk and Assurance Committee and is chairwoman of Ngā Rauru’s Waipapa marae.

Shannah-Leigh Fiso will join the quarterly meetings of the Community Services Portfolio Group.

Although working as a social worker at Kōkiri Marae in Lower Hutt, Fiso is from Wai-o-Turi marae through her mother Serena Hurunui, who was born and raised in Pātea.

Infrastructure Services Portfolio Group takes on Ngāti Ruanui’s Russell Hockley, who is a youth worker with Tui Ora and is the presiding member of the Hāwera Primary School Board.

The committee seats were created for the previous council term and as such were filled from 2019 until last year.

The portfolio group seats were filled from when they were created in 2016 through to 2019 but sat empty last term.

“I am really pleased that we have got all these positions filled because … we’ve had some vacancies there on the two portfolio groups for a long time,” said Nixon.

The council’s policy and governance manager Becky Wolland said it could be challenging filling the roles.

“Those with the appropriate skills and [who] are interested in holding these positions usually have multiple roles with a number of organisations, and capacity for individuals can be difficult.”

The committee appointees are one of the ways STDC works to fulfil legislated Treaty of Waitangi obligations and fulfil the council’s ambition to improve relationships with mana whenua.

The iwi liaison committee, now renamed Te Kāhui Matauraura, was set up in 1991 with two members appointed by each of the four iwi recognised in the district.

The council employs a permanent iwi liaison officer, currently Reg Korau, to link directly with iwi and advise councillors and staff, and to coordinate regular meetings with iwi heads.

This term is the first time STDC has included Māori wards, with a population formula meaning there are two councillors elected by voters on the Māori electoral roll.

Since November 2020 the council and the four iwi have also been hammering out an Iwi-Council Partnership Strategy.

The strategy was due for completion but has stumbled as the consultants Aatea Solutions are based in Wairoa and were impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

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