Leaders wary of proposal to appoint Pacific panel

Colin Tukuitonga. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland's Pacific community leaders are reacting warily to a Government bureaucrat's suggestion that some members of a proposed Pacific advisory panel for the new Auckland Super City should be appointed rather than elected.

Dr Colin Tukuitonga, a former director of public health who now heads the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in Wellington, yesterday mooted the mix of elected and appointed members on district health boards as a model for the new Super City panel.

The proposal flies in the face of most Pacific submissions on the Super City bill, which advocated various procedures for electing rather than appointing the panel.

The bill, in its current form, requires the incoming Super City mayor to establish the Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel by March 31 next year.

It requires Dr Tukuitonga to develop proposals on mechanisms for establishing the panel for the newly elected mayor by November 1, when the new Super City comes into being.

Dr Tukuitonga said he would gather community input for his report from Pacific councillors and community board members on July 23, the four Pacific advisory boards on July 28, a public meeting for Pacific communities in South Auckland on August 3 and a public meeting for the rest of the region on August 5. He is also inviting written submissions by August 6.

The four existing advisory boards in Auckland, Manukau, Waitakere and North Shore are all elected at public community meetings with members chosen by each Pacific ethnic group broadly in proportion to their populations - generally several from the big Samoan and Tongan groups and single representatives from some of the smaller islands.

But Dr Tukuitonga questioned the existing process of election by community meetings. "Not everyone is convinced it's the best process."

Manukau Pacific board chairwoman Tupou Manapori said she would support "a couple or a handful" of panel members being appointed, but she said most members should be chosen by each ethnic group in each of the four parts of the new city.

Auckland City Pacific Island Board chairman Bruce McCarthy said he still preferred using the existing Auckland Pacific Forum, but he looked forward to discussing other options. He will meet Dr Tukuitonga this week.