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Independent Maori Statutory Board
WILLIE JACKSON
Last week I received good news in the High Court that my challenge against the Auckland Independent Maori Statutory Board decision to exclude me as a Mataawaka representative was wrong.
The Statutory Board was set up by former Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to ensure Maori had some type of voice on the Auckland Super City Council. It was an excellent idea because any Maori with strong pro Maori views could never get on the council.
While Pita Sharples deserves to be congratulated for coming up with the idea of a Statutory Board that ensures a Maori view is heard within Council. He equally deserves criticism for the way he decided how the Statutory Board should be configured. Sharples and his advisors decided Maori in Auckland should have an executive of nine representing their interests, which is fine until you look at how that breaks down.
Seven of those nine representatives are tribal reps and only two represent Urban Maori or Mataawaka interests as they are described within council. How Sharples came up with the formula is beyond me. Urban Maori are close to 90 percent of the Maori population in Auckland and the tribes represent less than 11 percent and yet he gifts them this huge opportunity forgetting that it was Urban Maori who voted him in when he was a Member of Parliament.
John Tamihere and I decided when the board was first announced that despite the board being so iwi centric and only two representatives being allocated for Urban Maori that we would stand for those positions. John was elected in 2010 and 2013 but I missed out both times, which is fine if all things were fair and there was no bias shown against me, however that has not been the case.
For a start the tribal representatives select who our Urban Maori representatives are going to be and it’s no secret in the Maori world that JT and I are not exactly bosom buddies with the different tribes. So while one of us might have got up, which has been JT there’s no way in the world that they would entertain both of us. That’s despite the fact that I got more support from Maori in Auckland than any other candidate. We decided to challenge the tribes nonsense and the High Court agreed that the process that was used to select who our representatives were was deeply flawed and needed to be done again. This fight is much more than about me getting onto a board it’s about urban Maori Tino Rangatiratanga and the right for us to be able to choose our own representatives. I hope next time the tribes of Auckland listen to what we’re saying.
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