A new mana whenua representative will return to Selwyn’s council this term.
Selwyn District Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to invite Te Taumutu Rūnanga to nominate a representative for the council.
The council has specified the “desirable criteria” for the Rūnanga to consider, and once a candidate is nominated, a report will come to the council to confirm the appointment.
The representative will have speaking rights but not voting rights at council meetings.
Te Taumutu Rūnanga chairperson Puamiria Parata-Goodall said the representative role was about partnership, and was not “just symbolic” or procedural.
Mayor Lydia Gliddon said the district chose not to go down the path of having Māori wards due to the strong relationship with Rūnanga and believed the inaugural representative, Megen McKay, provided invaluable input last term.
The council and Te Taumutu Rūnanga signed a relationship agreement, which included establishing the council’s first mana whenua representation in 2022.
McKay was appointed in September 2023 until the end of the council term in September last year. McKay is now a Ngai Tahi councillor at Environment Canterbury.
Funding for the mana whenua representation was previously supported through Better Off Funding, which will end in July 2026.
The remuneration, based on the councillor rate of $73,628 per year, will be funded from general rates.
The council report said the council separately provides $300,000 annually to both Te Taumutu and Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga for operational capability, which is not part of representative remuneration.
Councillor Elizabeth Mundt asked if the mana whenua representative role needed a wider discussion with the community in the long-term plan, rather than councillors making the decision for them.
Parata-Goodall said the “partnership is between our hapu and this council primarily”.
The representative will have the responsibility to speak on behalf of the 33,000 members of Ngäi Te Ruahikihiki ki Taumutu, and “the relationship in this instance is directly with council”.
Cr Tracey Macleod said if she had “confidence that your views, knowledge and needs would be genuinely represented around the table, then I would probably not support this”
“I don’t yet feel that confidence,” she said.
“Not from my own life experience, not from my own networks, and not from my knowledge of Aotearoa.
“I welcome an opportunity to have one of you sitting amongst us and contributing to what i hope in the next three years is a Selwyn District that thrives for everybody”.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
