Editorial: What form should input take?

Join our ever growing amount of contributors to our Letters to the Editor page.

Since May last year one issue has dominated our opinion pages. This week alone we've had to expand the space available for letters to the editor.

The Te Arawa Partnership Proposal has sparked widespread debate, and everyone has had a lot to say on the matter, but in the end it boils down to a couple of simple questions.

1) Should our city leaders be inviting input from local iwi when it comes to decision-making? And

2) What form should that input take?

The answer to question 1, according to the Local Government Act, is yes. Councils have to ensure they provide opportunities for Maori, and not just the main local iwi groups, to contribute to decision-making processes. That would seem to address some of the criticism aimed at the proposal. But not all.

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Because question 2 provides the real sticking point.

Read more here: Decision Time: What you need to know
The proposal that has divided a city

The proposed partnership model includes, among other things, the provision for voting rights for two iwi members on two powerful council committees - the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee, and the Operations and Monitoring Committee.

The city seems divided on whether people not elected by them should have this power.

Of course that is what happens when you have ward voting, whether by area or, say, with Maori wards.

But it's easy to see how the concept of unelected representation, even if only for committee decisions which have to go before the full council, could make some uncomfortable.

Read more here: Q&A with Councillor Glenys Searancke
Q&A with Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick

If you haven't already I invite you to read our news feature from last Saturday which details the issue and examines the rationale behind the process, and allows Mayor Steve Chadwick and councillor and Pro-Democracy Society chairwoman Glenys Searancke to set out exactly where they are coming from and why. It is also available to read on our website. There are also public information sessions taking place this week.

The better Rotorua locals understand this divisive yet important issue, the better placed you are to not only have an opinion on it, but to have some input before public submissions close on April 17.

And maybe you'll even join the growing number of people contributing to the debate through our letters page.