Source: Radio New Zealand
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania faces possibly the first ever media standup at the council chambers in Kaikohe. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Far North councillors on Wednesday voted to expand a Māori liaison committee which has been at the centre of a nationwide social media firestorm.
More than 100 people, many carrying flags and home-made banners, gathered outside the Far North District Council chambers in Kaikohe ahead of this morning’s meeting to finalise the committee’s membership.
Unusually, the gathering was called not to protest the council’s plans, but as a show of support for its direction and for embattled Mayor Moko Tepania.
Both the Far North District Council and Tepania had been under intense pressure since a podcast last week by former TV journalist Duncan Garner, in which he interviewed outspoken councillor Davina Smolders and claimed the council’s appointment of unelected members to its committees was “illegal”, “undemocratic” and “co-governance on steroids”.
About 100 people gathered outside the Far North District Council chambers in a show of support for Mayor Moko Tepania. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Both called on the government to step in and appoint a Crown observer.
The controversy centred on the council’s Te Kuaka Māori Strategic Relationships Committee, which includes six councillors – including Smolders – and, as of today, two representatives of the Northland iwi chairs forum, known as Te Kahu o Taonui, and eight hapū representatives.
The Local Government Act states councils can appoint any number of unelected members to their committees, and that councils must involve Māori in decision-making.
Among those at the protest was former Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora, who travelled from Dargaville to take part.
She said many of the claims in the podcast were incorrect.
“This committee isn’t illegal or unlawful. It’s a committee that makes recommendations, it doesn’t make decisions, and it’s not a co-governance committee.”
Taitokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Also there was Taitokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, who said she had helped set up the committee years ago with then chairman Harry Burkhardt.
She said the committee worked well, and the claims she had seen on social media were “disturbing and distressing”.
“To take it away would undo some very good work that has benefited everyone, Māori and non-Māori.”
Pākehā at the protest included Michelle Cels of Kawakawa, who wanted to “stand together against division that’s being sown in the community”.
“There’s so much misinformation out there, and people need to be very clear they are doing their own research, not living in an echo chamber and trusting what people say to them is true.”
Ngāpuhi chairman Mane Tahere, one of the newly appointed committee members, said Māori were already an economic force in Northland – even without a Treaty settlement – and had much to offer in the way of solutions to Northland’s meth and housing crises.
“We’re just carrying on with the mahi and rising above all the rhetoric,” he said.
Far North District councillor Davina Smolders has claimed the council’s appointment of unelected members to its committees was “illegal”. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The social media storm of the past week had, however, been frustrating for Far Northerners dealing with real-world problems such as the cost of living and extreme weather.
It’s hōhā [annoying] for our people with everyday struggles, most recently the floods.”
Only 30 people were allowed inside the chambers during the meeting with the rest having to follow the livestream from the nearby Memorial Hall.
Speakers included Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and Northland Regional Council chairman Pita Tipene.
Tipene drew a link between the social media firestorm and real-life storms of recent weeks, saying people would be better served by calm and rational debate.
“Me personally, I have come here to listen and get the truth. I’m here with everyone else because we need more light and less heat, given the storms of the last couple of weeks.”
Green MP Hūhana Lyndon addresses councillors. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Ngatiwai’s Aperahama Keripeti-Edwards, a committee appointee, urged councillors not to be swayed from their current path.
“I ask you to uphold the integrity of your processes. Respect the role of tangata whenua within them. And make decisions that are based on fact, not misinformation, because the future depends on it.”
Advisory committees such as Te Kuaka were necessary, he said.
“You do not make decisions about people without them. You do not speak for others when they can speak for themselves.”
Councillor Smolders said appointing unelected members was allowed under the Local Government Act, but risked going against the intent of the law.
She also said the council could not appoint unspecified hapū representatives to the committee, it could only appoint named individuals.
That meant another resolution would have to be passed later, at another extraordinary meeting, once hapū had decided who would represent them.
The decision to expand the committee’s membership was passed by nine votes to one with one abstention. Only Smolders voted against.
Afterwards she said she was disappointed in the outcome, saying councillors would be outnumbered by unelected members on the Te Kuaka committee.
“And the community has voted for elected members to be their voice,” she said.
Former Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The meeting drew the largest media contingent at the Far North District Council in recent years, along with possibly the first ever media stand-up at the Kaikohe chambers.
Tepania said broadening the Māori relationships committee was the right thing to do, and gave credit to the previous mayor under whose tenure the council signed its first Memorandum of Understanding with iwi.
He hoped the next generation would not still have to justify including Māori in decision making, as his tūpuna [ancestors] had done and as he had been forced to do this week.
“It’s hōhā to have to stand and do that right now, but from the aroha of the iwi who have come here today I feel we are coming together. We have a huge road ahead, but we can do it together.”
Last year’s local elections saw Tepania win the Far North mayoralty by a landslide, and Māori elected to six out of 10 council seats.
Far Northerners also voted to retain their Māori ward.
According to the most recent Census data, just over 50 percent of the Far North population is of Māori descent.
Smolders, an ACT Party candidate, was elected last October with the second-highest number of votes, after Ann Court, in the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Ward.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
