Far North District councillor Hilda Halkyard-Harawira has called for fellow councillor Davina Smolders to resign from the council’s Te Kuaka Committee for Māori Strategic Relationships, saying the committee can move forward without the “sideshows” she says have overshadowed its work.
Halkyard-Harawira said she had waited since June for Smolders to resign from the committee as a matter of courtesy but believed it was now time for her to leave.
“I have suggested to Cr Smolders she can be just as destructive to Māori outside our Komiti Māori. Te Kuaka Komiti wants to set some positive objectives without her sideshows,” she said.
Halkyard-Harawira accused Smolders of using Māori issues as a political platform, claiming she had repeatedly sought to undermine Māori initiatives and the council’s leadership.
“The ACT-ress is the only councillor who has hired her own cameraman to film her antics twice within council meetings and her public stunts are aimed at disempowering Māori and the council leadership.”
The latest comments follow ongoing disputes between Smolders and the Far North District Council over Māori representation, Te Tiriti partnerships and council governance.
In February, Smolders, who is an ACT list-only candidate, claimed Mayor Moko Tepania intended to stand as Labour’s candidate for Te Tai Tokerau at the next general election. Tepania rejected the claim, describing it as false and reiterating his commitment to serving as mayor.
In Friday’s statement, Halkyard-Harawira said she had opposed Smolders joining Te Kuaka after what she described as Smolders’ “public lie” about the mayor’s political intentions.
The dispute escalated in March when Smolders wrote to Local Government Minister Simon Watts seeking an independent review of the Far North District Council without the backing of fellow elected members.
Department of Internal Affairs officials later observed council meetings before determining they were operating as normal.
Smolders has also publicly opposed proposed strategic relationship agreements between the council and five iwi, claiming they would amount to “ceding sovereignty”.
The council rejected those claims, saying the agreements were intended to strengthen relationships with iwi and hapū rather than transfer governance powers.
At the time, the dispute also drew in Regional Development Minister Shane Jones, who criticised Smolders for seeking Crown intervention, saying it was “pathetic” that local political issues could not be resolved locally and describing it as “quite perverse” for a councillor to “run to Wellington” to solve local problems.
He also said Smolders was “probably not worthy of being a councillor”
In Friday’s statement, Halkyard-Harawira said Māori make up around 53 percent of the Far North’s population and play a significant role in the district’s economy through iwi and hapū-led housing, health, social services and economic development.
She also criticised Smolders’ record as a councillor, claiming she had focused more on opposing Māori initiatives than delivering outcomes for her Kerikeri-Whangaroa ward.
The Te Kuaka Committee for Māori Strategic Relationships provides strategic leadership and guidance to strengthen Te Ao Māori perspectives within council decision-making, promote Te Tiriti-based partnership and leadership between the Far North District Council and iwi and hapū, and make recommendations to the full council.
Te Ao Māori News has approached Davina Smolders for comment.
