Taranaki Regional Council has approved two agreements with Ngāti Maru in a bid to continue cooperation beyond the looming local government shake-up.
The council is legally required to negotiate a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) with Ngāti Maru by the iwi’s 2022 Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
The agreed JMA covers the Waitara River and catchment, committing Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) and the iwi to cooperate over rivers, wetlands, farm freshwater plans, water allocation, mining and more.
A JMA leadership forum with four members each from Ngāti Maru and TRC will be able to make some rulings with the legal weight of a council decision.
Councillors on Tuesday also voted to sign up to a Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreement Ngāti Maru is seeking with Taranaki’s four councils, under the Resource Management Act.
The Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (MWAR) sets out how Ngāti Maru would work with the councils on things like planning and consenting rules.
The vote was unanimous, but councillor Neil Walker questioned how the two agreements would survive the Government-ordered revamp of local government, and its replacement of the Resource Management Act.
New resource management laws are due back in Parliament in a few weeks, and regional councils are to be axed at the 2028 local elections.
“We’re standing on the brink of some very big changes, and we won’t really know where we’re going until we get through the next phase,” Walker said.
TRC policy lead Finbar Kiddle said council decisions couldn’t bind whatever local body entities emerge from the reforms.
But he said the agreements were not overly specific and matched the Government’s intention to focus on regional planning.
“By not being too specific, they should transfer quite easily over to the new arrangements.”
TRC deputy chair Bonita Bigham agreed future Government demands remained unclear, and thanked iwi for being kaitiaki (stewards) in uncertain times.
“Iwi are very clear about what they expect any organisation that will follow us to do, which is why they are triggering these mechanisms … to stay at the forefront of these conversations,” Bigham said.
“Iwi are doing three, four, five-hundred-year plans.”
Ngāti Maru pou whakahaere Anaru Marshall said the iwi looked forward to signing the agreements soon.
“The Waitara River, known to us as Te Awaroa, is one of the largest catchments in Taranaki and has played a central role in sustaining Ngāti Maru as a people, physically, culturally and historically over many centuries.
“We are indelibly linked to it, and this is an opportunity for us to work collaboratively to ensure the health and well-being of the river will endure.”
TRC chair Craig Williamson said the JMA cemented the “strong whanaungatanga” (relationships) the council had built with the iwi to protect the river and wider environment.
“This JMA recognises Ngāti Maru’s enduring relationship with their taonga and sets out the responsibilities and obligations of the Council and iwi.”
The Government has said legislated Treaty settlement obligations would carry through to new councils after the reforms, but the future of MWAR depend on the final form of new resource management laws.
LDR is local body journalism funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
