March 13, 2014
Maori protections need popular backing
Labour’s Maori spokesperson is warning those trying to write more Maori control into the Auckland Unitary Plan that they need to carry the public with them.
Shane Jones has spoken out against provisions in the draft plan turning 19 mana whenua iwi into consent authorities and requiring developers and homeowners to track down iwi to get cultural impact assessments.
He says as someone who drafted and had worked with the Resource Management Act, he believes the council is going too far and creating an unworkable and unpopular layer of bureaucracy.
"We must always be vigilant that we are not setting up unnecessarily complex or expensive levels of bureaucracy, because in the end a lot of these rules and regulations have to exist with the acceptance and the support of the people," he says.
Shane Jones says there is already plenty of tools in the Resource Management Act that allow iwi to protect waahi tapu.
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