Waipā mana whenua representatives Te Kanohi put appointments on hold until after byelection

The district council has put the appointments for the Te Kanohi representatives on hold.

The appointment of four mana whenua representatives at Waipā District Council has been put on hold due to the soon-to-be-held Māori ward byelection.

The mana whenua representatives, known as Te Kanohi, sit on four council committees and have an aim to bring a Māori worldview to the committees and to be a voice for mana whenua interests across the district.

The council made the decision to establish iwi representatives in November 2019.

The four representatives for this term were already selected and due to be announced soon. However, Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan decided to hold off making appointments until a new election for a Māori ward councillor has been held.

“I think it is premature to appoint Te Kanohi before we have a new Māori ward councillor in place,” O’Regan says.

Te Kanohi representatives are sitting on Waipa’s Strategic Planning and Policy Committee, the Service Delivery Committee, the Finance and Corporate Committee, as well as the Regulatory Committee, and have voting rights on those committees.

The inaugural Te Kanohi representatives were Miriata Tauroa (Strategic Planning and Policy Committee), Bill Harris (Service Delivery Committee), Bronwyn Koroheke (Finance and Corporate Committee) and Poto Davies (Regulatory Committee), who were appointed in 2020.

The byelection was sparked by the recent resignation of Waipā Māori ward councillor Takena Stirling, who vacated the seat following his interim suspension as a lawyer.

Nominations for the vacant Māori ward seat will open at the end of this month and close on April 27. Postal voting papers will start to be delivered on June 1 and voting will close on June 23.