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Download AudioAuckland’s new mayor Wayne Brown has got the thumbs up from Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
Mr Brown held a hui last week for representatives of iwi throughout Tamaki Makaurau.
Orakei trust board deputy chair Ngarimu Blair says he’s the super city’s best mayor yet.
He says Ngati Whatua has a long connection to the Maungawhau-born mayor, who has family history to Whakapirau and Pahi on the Kaipara Harbour.
“He’s done a lot of work in e Taitokerau with all our northern whanaunga so he’s got really good relationships up there. He comes to Tamaki with what we believe is a solid grounding for a pakeha in tikanga Mori and we think that is a solid basis to not only work with Ngati Whatua but with our relations across the wider isthmus and beyond,” Mr Blair says.
He says Ngati Whatua back Mayor Brown’s get tough approach to Ports of Auckland and it’s disappointed port company chair chair Jan Dawson hasn’t contacted it about his call to open up the wharf from Bledisloe to the Ferry Building.
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