The land at Pukenamu Queen's Park would remain Crown-owned under the new reserves board.
The land at Pukenamu Queen's Park would remain Crown-owned under the new reserves board.
A proposed iwi-council partnership is a chance to build a stronger community, Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says.
Whanganui district councillors will vote next month on forming a relationship with Takapau Whariki, the proposed post-settlement governance entity for the Whanganui Treaty of Waitangi settlement, to establish a reserves board and charitable trust.
A legally binding iwi-council relationship agreement –Tomokanga ki Te Matapihi – forms part of it.
Tripe said the majority of feedback showed the community supported the arrangement and saw it as a way of progressing the district.
An email from lobby group Hobson’s Pledge trustee Don Brash claiming it comprises a “stealthy iwi takeover” of the council was sent to the organisation’s supporters this week.
It encouraged them to contact councillors and Tripe to signal their opposition to the partnership, saying “several co-governance dynamics” would be embedded and “locked” into the council via legislation.
Tripe said co-governance was a word used to scaremonger and the email was “provocative and sensationalist”.
“Co-governance in its true form, where it’s damaging, is the example under the original Three Waters legislation,” he said.
“We were going to be co-governed with an auto-arrangement from Tauranga through to Hamilton through to New Plymouth – outside of our region.”
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe.
He said the council had nothing to do with iwi and Crown negotiations.
“Post-settlement, there is an opportunity for all of us to work towards becoming a stronger community,” Tripe said.
The proposals will be voted on at a council meeting on February 13, with Tomokanga ki Te Matapihi applying to future councils if signed off.
Tripe said the reserves board – Ngā Tūtei a Maru – was not a new concept and the Pākaitore Historic Reserve Board had been operating for years.
The new board would oversee Pukenamu-Queen’s Park, Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens Historic Reserve, a section of Gonville Domainandspecific sections at Mōwhānau Village.
“These parks will continue to be managed by [the] council, with unencumbered access for all our community,” Tripe said.
Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said buildings at Queen’s Park, such as the Sarjeant Gallery and Davis Library, would “remain owned, governed and administered by [the] council”.
“Another key point is that all these parcels of land are already Crown-owned,” he said.
“We are not transferring land, certainly at this stage, that is council-owned.”
The Crown will remain the owner of all the land managed by the new board.
Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust chairman Ken Mair said the partnership would enable a values-based approach to relationships between the community, council and hapū.
“What would you be fearful of? It’s a collaborative approach that everyone can participate in,” he said.
“Surely that’s laying a really strong platform for the future?”
The charitable trust – Toitū te Whānau – was a different way to address social and economic challenges and would work to ensure Government agencies were meeting the needs of local people, Tripe said.
“Crime is not getting any better and health and education are not progressing as well as they should.
“At best, it’s co-governance with a very small ‘c’. It’s nothing to be feared.”
Mair said Toitū te Whānau would ensure the localisation of decisions, rather than “an anonymous bureaucrat within Wellington”.
“We are confident our community can see through some of this nonsense that is being deliberately calculated in a deceptive attempt to perpetuate falsehoods.
“Let’s not give further oxygen to their divisive mentality. Let’s focus on constructive collaboration and look for real solutions within our community.”
Ken Mair says the partnership will lay a strong platform for the future.
Councillor Rob Vinsen was the only elected member to vote against the November motion, saying the document had not been finalised and was only a summary.
Speaking to the Chronicle this week, he said he was concerned the public had not been given all the information.
“I’m really disappointed that [the] council is going around talking to the public and inviting comment, yet not showing them the document we are talking about.
“I can’t see how we can have a proper conversation until that document is released.”
Vinsen said all councillors had seen the final document but it remained confidential.
Chandulal-Mackay said the formal relationship agreement had not been released publicly because of sensitivities around the Treaty settlement process, which was always negotiated in confidence.
The council’s official position is that the final agreement will be made public no later than February 13, the day of the council meeting.
Tripe said he had no issue with showing the final document to the public before it was signed – “as soon as it is practicable”.
“We are not rushing this through by stealth and we are not trying to hide anything,” Tripe said.
“It’s not in our interest to do something different to what we’ve spoken about.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
