Councillors urged to be "courageous"

Te Arawa partnership hearings at Rotorua District Council. 01 May 2015 Daily Post photograph by Stephen Parker

A decision on the Te Arawa Partnership Proposal is due tomorrow

After almost two years of iwi and public consultation, backlash, written and oral submissions, the Rotorua Lakes Council will finally make its decision on arguably the most significant proposal the council, alongside Te Arawa, has facilitated in recent history.

The decision is entirely up to the councillors.

Ana Morrison who put forward a submission on behalf of herself and the Ngati Whakaue Assets Trust say's the pressure is now on the councillors to make the right decision for the community.

"It'll be really disappointing if the leaders of our community don't exhibit courageous leadership. I challenged all councillors to be courageous in their leadership to positively transform Rotorua."

Since the 5 day oral submissions window closed on the 11th of May, the councillors have carefully deliberated over all the emotional submissions delivered by more than 150 members of the community, for and against the proposal.

"I really tried to convey an intention of trust, integrity and consensus decision making. And I spent most of the submission rebutting some of the concerns that I had identified through reading some of the submissions around 'lack of accountability leading to corruption.

"There was a pervading theme of this inherent mistrust in Te Arawa's intentions and that our intentions aren't pure or that they would go against what is good, or what would benefit Rotorua."

The strongest opposition came from the Rotorua Pro-Democracy Society formed initially by two District councillors, Mike McVicker and Rob Kent, together with a well-known local academic, Dr. Reynold Macpherson, labelling the proposal as a "travesty against democratic principles, and erosion of democratic rights."

A view shared by hundreds, including a Polish koroua, who moved to Rotorua in 1969. He wished to remain anonymous.

"First of all, there are already elected representatives on the council from Te Arawa who should be more than capable of expressing Te Arawa view points, and they are formally elected and that's right and proper."

Whatever decision is made, it'll likely cause further divide between the two factions. There is a possibility of the council opting for the lesser of two evils, Maori wards.

"I'd be hugely disappointed. The process that Te Arawa have gone through has been a long process through engaging expert advisors, speaking with our people, garnering different views to develop up a model." Ana Morrison said.