MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Māori Standing Committee concerns forwarded to the Local Government Commission

The Māori Standing Committee (a sub-committee of the Wairoa District Council) have forwarded a letter to Basil Morrison, the Chair of the Local Government Commission outlining their concerns regarding the independent telephone-based survey currently underway seeking views on the proposed amalgamation of Hawke’s Bay territorial authorities.

The committee notes their concern regarding the methodology of the telephone-based survey. At their most recent meeting, the Māori Standing Committee passed the following resolution;

“It is the considered view of the Māori Standing Committee that the independent telephone survey currently underway regarding the reorganisation of Hawke’s Bay territorial authorities has denied Wairoa tangata whenua the ability to fairly participate in the process. The Māori Standing Committee considers this to be in breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.”

Maori Standing Committee Chair, Graeme Symes says, “with a Māori population of 59.4%, and latest Statistics New Zealand census data noting that 29% of Māori households within the Wairoa district have no access to a fixed telephone line, these factors when taken together in the opinion of the Maori Standing Committee has denied tangata whenua within the Wairoa district the ability to fairly participate in this process.

The Māori Standing Committee have invited the Chair of the LGC to respond to the concerns noted in their letter and has also invited the LGC to repeat the telephone survey in a manner respectful to the principles of partnership, protection and participation as embodied in the text of the Treaty of Waitangi.

“We note our deep concerns regarding the methodology of the independent telephone survey currently underway and ask that our mokopuna and those generations that will follow us do not inherit a legacy of grievance because of the decisions made today”, says Mr Symes.

Ends

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