A landmark agreement was reached between a Te Tai Tokerau iwi and Northland Regional Council during a hui at Moerewa last week.
The deal will provide iwi Ngāti Hine with greater voice at the council table in a major step forward for the council’s resource management relationships with Māori.
It is Te Tai Tokerau’s first Northland Regional Council-iwi Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (MWAR) agreement, signed with Ngāti Hine at Otiria Marae in Moerewa on Thursday.
At one point towards the end of the often-heated hui, Northland Regional Council (NRC) indicated it might pause the agreement, ahead of the deal eventually being signed.
“The kaikaunihera (NRC politicians and management representatives) are in a place where they’re feeling uncomfortable,” NRC manager governance and engagement Auriole Ruka told the hui, after at-times angry kōrero filled the wharenui.
“We do not want to leave here causing more mamae (hurt).”
However, Ngāti Hine kaumatua Waihoroi Shortland stepped in, his powerful oratory temporarily stilling the waters.
“We are not redefining this hui at the last second,” Shortland said.
“We are adamant we must cut a path forward. If we don’t sign, then all things are lost.”
The MWAR process meant his iwi would be heard by the council, he said.
NRC’s new statutory agreement with Ngāti Hine is a first for the North between the council and an iwi.
It follows those already in place between NRC and three hapū – Bay of Islands Ngāti Rēhia, and wider Whangārei hapū Patuharakeke and Te Parawhau.
The legal option of a MWAR agreement was introduced as a Resource Management Act (RMA) amendment in 2017 in a bid to strengthen ties between councils and tangata whenua, as part of recognising Te Tiriti o Waitangi and kaitiakitanga.
Ngāti Hine deputy chairperson Pita Tipene said Thursday’s signing marked an important milestone for iwi-council relations and built on the mahi the iwi was already doing.
“Our whānau and hapu of Ngāti Hine have been working tirelessly in our many valleys as champions for the environment,” Tipene said.
“Moreover, the regional council team has worked in close collaboration with our whānau and hapū, building strong relationships and ways of working at the flax roots.
“This significant milestone agreement will further support our integrated efforts as rangatiratanga and kawanatanga working in earnest together for the benefit of our environment as envisaged by Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
Ngāti Hine leaders, representing an iwi with nine hapū, signed the agreement, as the voice of opposition from some to this action rang out.
Members of hapū Ngāti Kōpaki and Ngāti Te Ara voiced their strong opposition to signing the agreement throughout much of the hui, calling for it to be paused for a month while they had time to consider.
The hapū said they were wary of signing, as they felt they had not been adequately involved in the process and they had seen what resulted from signing Te Tiriti o Waitangi 184 years ago.
Tipene apologised to the hapū over communication.
He said Thursday’s robust discussion was part of ensuring local voices were heard.
Opponents gained opportunity for potential post-signing agreement alterations.
Tipene said Ngāti Hine hapū were fiercely independent but their ongoing interdependence helped achieve great results.
This had been illustrated by how Ngāti Hine had helped their young taonga tuna (eels) by carrying them in woven flax kete up Otiria waterfalls so they could continue upstream and on into their life cycle – and provide food for the people.
“And we can do a hell of a lot more working with the council,” he said.
NRC Chair Geoff Crawford, who signed the MWHAR agreement on behalf of his council, said doing so was momentous.
“This signing is a great day and represents our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and working with tangata whenua for the benefit of all living in Tai Tokerau Northland,” Crawford said.
NRC deputy chair Tui Shortland said there had been years of raping and pillaging and confiscation by the hands of local councils.
She said the agreement would provide protection for the iwi amid changes to the RMA.
A MWAR could not be dismantled in the same way facing the RMA.
And its presence meant that Ngāti Hine would have to be consulted under the new fast tracking legislation, which allows projects to sidestep councils and the RMA.
Iwi which have Treaty settlements must be consulted on the 149 proposed projects nationwide that are going through the process.
But New Zealand’s biggest iwi Ngāpuhi has not had settlement, meaning it does not need to be consulted about Northland’s fast-tracked projects.
Shortland said her council would have no say over the fast-tracked Northland projects. Ngāti Hine’s new MWAR agreement meant it however would.
That was important as many of the fast-tracked projects were in Northland, Shortland said.
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
