Councillors added a permanent seat on the council’s land and water plan governance group for Southland’s Ngai Tahu ki Murihiku at a council meeting in a 7-3 vote.
The Southland runanga collective until now had not had any representation on the group despite having interests within the Otago region and dealings with council staff, a staff report last week to councillors said.
Murihiku runanga will now have one representative on the group as it joins the collective of Otago runanga, Kai Tahu ki Otago, and four regional councillors in guiding freshwater priorities and policy in the development of the plan.
Several councillors said Murihiku runanga deserved a place at the table, but questions were raised about a perceived imbalance a potential fifth seat for mana whenua could create.
Despite presently only sending two representatives to each meeting, Kai Tahu ki Otago could by right send up to four representatives to meetings.
The land and water plan is a major outstanding piece of the puzzle for the council as it works towards the fit-for-purpose planning framework Environment Minister David Parker asked the council to have in place by the end of next year.
Its governance group is a subcommittee of the council’s strategy and planning committee and alongside mana whenua representatives, two councillors rotate in depending on which area planning is focused on, and there are two permanently appointed councillors.
Crs Gretchen Robertson and chairman Andrew Noone are the permanent councillors on the group.
Cr Noone said it was important to note that it was not simply specific areas that Ngai Tahu ki Murihiku had an interest in.
"They are interested, right across, in the general provisions in the land and water plan.
"It’s much broader than just when you talk about ‘areas’," he said.
Further, a Murihiku representative could not simply take an unused seat of Kai Tahu ki Otago as was suggested at the council meeting.
It was important Murihiku runanga in their own right had their own invitation and their own opportunity to join the group "and their own place around that table", Cr Noone said.
Moreover, he said decision-making would be done by the strategy and planning committee, not the governance group, which was not a decision-making forum.
It was a "forum for discussion", he said.
Cr Michael Laws said he believed Cr Noone had downplayed the importance of the governance group.
It was an important group and it was important to get its membership right, Cr Laws said.
"I take it very seriously — and I would take recommendations that came from this group very seriously indeed. And I think most would, including our staff," Cr Laws said.
"On the permanent members, from what I can see, there is a clear imbalance and a potential for there to be a majority of non-elected members — people chosen simply for their ethnicity — on that committee," Cr Laws said.
Otakou runaka upoko Edward Ellison along with Otago Peninsula Trust ecotourism manager Hoani Langsbury presently represent Kai Tahu Ki Otago.
Mr Ellison said he did not see the relationship as one of "co-governance".
"It’s an oversight group and it’s a way for mana whenua to work in partnership with the regional council in terms of progressing the land and water regional plan, but they are non-voting roles,"he said. Membership was a way for mana whenua "to be informed, to be aware, and able to comment" on the progression, or not, of various elements of the plan’s development.
There was no issue with Murihiku being part of the process as there was a shared interest in Otago, particularly in Otago’s southern inland area, Mr Ellison said.
Voting for the establishment of a permanent Ngai Tahu ki Murihiku position on the land and water plan governance group were Crs Noone, Michael Deaker, Alexa Forbes, Kevin Malcolm, Gretchen Robertson, Bryan Scott and Kate Wilson.
Voting against were Crs Laws, Hilary Calvert and Gary Kelliher.
Cr Carmen Hope sent apologies.
