June 26, 2023
Māori seat consultation clouded
Manukau ward councillor Alf Filipaina says some Auckland Council members are deliberately sowing confusion over proposed Māori seats on the governing body.
The proposal is now out for consultation, with a decision needed by November to make the change in time for the 2025 local government election.
Mr Filipaina says the discussion has been widened to include discussion of the Independent Maori Statutory Board, which is unnecessary as that board was set up by legislation to address Treaty of Waitangi obligations and give Maori a voice in the super city.
“Some of those people who voted to include Independent Maori Statutory Board in the consultation, they knew this was going to happen, they knew it was going to cloud the issue and they would rather do that and get people to jump on that anti co-governance, anti-Maori horse to cloud the issue, that’s why they did it,” he says.
The consultation will run from August 21 until September 24, which gives opportunity for mana whenua, Māori and the wider public in Tāmaki Makaurau to say whether or not they want the council to introduce Māori seats.