The appointment of two new advisers to the Hastings District Council will help the local authority build stronger relationships with iwi and hapu and better reflect Maori cultural values and concerns, says chief executive Ross McLeod.
Appointed to the relationships, responsiveness and heritage section of the council he said that while the titles were new the roles were not, with this section of the council put in place in the early 1990s when the Resource Management Act and subsequently the Local Government Act put the responsibility of considering Maori interests onto councils.
Until last year the portfolio was managed by Marama Laurenson, who left the role to take up a job with the Whanganui District Council.
In her place, the council had appointed Dr James Graham as principal adviser.
Mr Graham had most recently been working with the Hawke's Bay District Health Board, and had also held roles at Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated and as a senior lecturer and academic at Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Waikato and the University of Canterbury, Mr McLeod said.