Possibility of co-chair with South Taranaki’s iwi liaison committee revamp

South Taranaki’s iwi liaison committee is getting a revamp. Photo/ NZME

South Taranaki’s iwi liaison committee is being revamped, and is likely to be co-chaired by the mayor and one – or more – iwi representatives.

Iwi have been called on to bring more information to Te Kāhui Matauraura, extra councillors have been added, and the committee’s scope and structure will be reviewed early next year.

Ahead of that review, Mayor Phil Nixon said he’d like to have a co-chair decided by iwi to take turns at leading Te Kāhui Matauraura meetings.

“I would like whoever you nominate as a co-chair to chair that [next] meeting, and that meeting to actually have more reports from iwi rather than from council. So that’s actually an iwi-led Te Kāhui Matauraura and we go in that cycle, the following one is council-led.”

The co-chair would be one of the eight iwi representatives on the committee – two each from Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngā Ruaru.

“I think that then gets into that true liaison of working between us, and information sharing between us.”

Ngāruahine’s John Hooker suggested the co-chair role could be shared between iwi.

“What we could do is alternate: council chair that’s yourself [the mayor], and then the following month instead of naming one iwi chair, we could actually rotate around our rohe.”

Previously Te Kāhui Matauraura comprised eight iwi reps, the mayor, the deputy mayor and one councillor – but now Nixon has added two extra councillors.

At the committee’s first meeting in the new council term on Wednesday, three councillors were at the table: Te Tai Tonga councillor Tuteri Rangihaeata, Aarun Langton from the Taranaki Coastal ward, and the head of the Environment and Hearings Committee, Andy Beccard.

Beccard called on iwi to bring information about their activities to match the reports from the mayor and council.

“We’d be very interested … you guys aren’t sitting around on your hands, you’re doing things. We’d love to know what you guys are doing.”

The iwi representatives supported the idea and Ngāti Ruanui rep Graham Young said the suggestion had come up in recent workshops that were shaping a new iwi-council partnership strategy.

“Ngāti Ruanui is more than happy to explore that further with council in terms of what that structure might look like … We’re happy to do that.”

The committee also voted to nominate Bonita Bigham to both the District Plan Review and Environment and Hearings committees, subject to approval by the four iwi.

Bigham is an experienced former South Taranaki councillor who now chairs Te Maruata, Local Government New Zealand’s committee to boost Māori representation.

There was some questioning whether her new role as Māori ward councillor on Taranaki Regional Council might create a conflict of interest, but Nixon said he didn’t expect it would be a problem.

The iwi reps have also been asked to nominate someone for the Risk and Assurance committee, again subject to iwi approval.

A full review of the terms of reference for Te Kāhui Matauraura will take place at the committee’s next hui on February 1 next year.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.