A joint committee of tangata whenua and the Tauranga City Council steered a neutral course today on the potentially contentious issue of separate Maori representation on the council.
The Tauranga Moana Tangata Whenua Collective is seeking better representation on the council by the creation of a city-wide Maori Ward.
However today's meeting of the Tangata Whenua/City Council Committee opted to simply note the collective's stance and leave the issue to be decided by the full meeting of the council on November 17.
Options facing the council were spelt out today by the council's legal and governance manager Kirsty Downey-McGuire. The council could stick with the status quo of having no Maori Ward, agree to introduce a ward or initiate a poll of electors and let the public decide.
If the council opposed a Maori Ward, a poll could be initiated by a member of the public provided they got the backing of 5 percent of electors (4237 people) for the poll.