April 09, 2018
Local government source of crown tension
The first hui looking at how the new Crown Maori Relationships portfolio should work have identified the Resource Management Act and local government as sources of conflict.
Minister Kelvin Davis hosted hui in Kaitaia and Whangarei over the weekend, with about 150 people turning out.
He says people expressed frustration at dealing with bureaucracy and working with officials, especially at council level.
"Maori are saying the RMA can be quite prohibitive, there are a lot of things imposed on Maori, they don't really get a say in how to deal with it so at that local level there is real frustration at not being able to participate in local government decisions as they believe they should," Mr Davis says.
Because of the interest in the north he is scheduling further hui on Friday at the Copthorne Omapere and in Kaikohe.
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