Nelson Rangi: Time to stop that 'special' treatment

Nelson Rangi

Councils around the country are grappling with how to deal with their legislative obligations to Maori in local governance.

There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved. However there seems to be significant reluctance by some councillors and others who see themselves as community standard bearers, to share council space with Maori under the legislation that provides for their input.

From reported comments, excuses and opinions and the results of polls, there appears to be a growing climate of fear - a fear that somehow, allowing Maori to have any influence in council matters will result in a loss of democracy, lack of fair representation and unbalanced local governance.

This sounds rather dramatic, but let us look at some specific points.

- Maori constituencies. The fear: Maori would be elected by a small group of Maori voters and could not fairly represent the district or region. Fact: Under the normal ward system, candidates are elected only by those voters from a particular ward. The successful ones then fairly represent the whole district along with all the other councillors. That is accepted by residents and ratepayers. The only difference is that one ward and councillor would be Maori. Check: Bay of Plenty Regional Council has operated with three Maori constituency seats since 2001.

- Iwi nominees on council committees. The fear: Maori appointees are not elected therefore cannot fairly represent the district. Fact: District Health Boards have several seats reserved for appointees. Appointees usually fill gaps or weaknesses in skill sets of elected members and may include Maori. Appointees are selected by the Minister of Health, perhaps through his local MP or confidant. Even the chairman is selected by the Minister. Non democratic but not a word of protest from the anti "Maori in council" screamers. Check: A tangatawhenua nominee is appointed to each Greater Wellington Regional Council committee. Their natural resources planning and regulatory committee comprise equal numbers of iwi appointed members and elected councillors. This committee was recognised by the Institute of Public Administration as the joint best Maori/council relationship model in New Zealand in 2013.

- Separate Maori boards. The fear: Separatist. Divisive. Slows down legitimate council business with unreasonable Maori demands. Fact: The best way to deal with this is to point to the Independent Maori Statutory Board in Auckland. I had heard all sorts of stories about the board so I took the trouble to fly to Auckland and check out both the IMSB and the Auckland Council. Their relationship appears to be strong, cordial and productive.

- Co-Governance. The fear: Maori will place unreasonable restrictions on the access and use of the particular co-governed entity. Fact: Unfounded. Check: Waikato River Authority with 50/50 Maori - Crown membership and co-management agreements. Check: Tuhoe settlement package which includes Te Urewera to be governed by Tuhoe and the Crown.

- Special treatment for Maori. There should be no special treatment for Maori. I agree wholeheartedly. Maori have received special treatment ever since the 1850s when their lands were confiscated, when they were forced to sell, when government troops killed whole unarmed Maori communities, when children were not allowed to speak their own language, when Maori cultural teaching was criminalised by the Tohunga Suppression Act, when the Government planned for Maori to die out, "and the sooner the better" wrote Chief Justice Prendergast, when Maori were not eligible to receive war pensions or the old age pension, when Maori were not allowed to control their own multiply owned lands, and so on.

That sort of special treatment still exists today but perhaps more subtly.

So let us stop giving Maori special treatment.

And now there is an all-out campaign to prevent some councils from putting into place processes that go some way toward meeting their obligations. If the reasons given by those opposed to Maori in councils is a measure of their standard of rational thought, then maybe voters should seriously question whether they are the right people to act on their behalf at the council table.

This fear is evident too, among the voting public, going by the polling results which shows an overwhelming bias against Maori seats. Maori themselves seem reluctant to vote for their own, or at all for that matter.

This is partly through apathy but also an attitude of, "It's not worth bothering. It won't do us any good".

That's what 160-odd years of special treatment has ingrained in them.

The question arises, why should Maori be accorded seats or places on council when other ethnic groups are not? The simple answer is, because they are Treaty partners.

Without traversing the whole saga of the Treaty of Waitangi, in recent times the New Zealand Government has recognised that, to put it mildly, an imbalance has occurred and is being acknowledged through various pieces of legislation.

The Local Government Act 2002 contains an intention to facilitate participation by Maori in local authority decision-making processes, and to develop Maori capacity to contribute to those processes.

The Resource Management Act 1991 also specifies certain local body requirements in relation to Maori.

The legislation is not prescriptive thus allowing for a range of methods to achieve the objective of Maori participation in the decision-making processes of local government. Let us hope that the time never comes when Maori councillors want to prevent non-Maori contenders from joining them, on the basis of their ethnicity.

- Nelson Rangi is the chairman of Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Iwi Authority, Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc Finance and Audit Committee and the AraTahi partnership of Greater Wellington Region's iwi leaders and GWRC leaders. He has previously been the president/chairman of the East Bay of Plenty Chamber of Commerce, a borough councillor and district councillor and member of the Bay of Plenty Area Health Board.