The council’s strategy, planning and engagement committee voted 11-1 yesterday to implement Te Taki Haruru, which is the council’s Māori strategic framework.
It aims to embed the Treaty at an operational level.
Cr Kevin Gilbert, whose father was a royal marine, felt a saying there captured the spirit of the framework.
It was: "Never above you, never below you, always by your side."
"It’s making sure that all of our community is considered as one and at the same level," Cr Gilbert said.
Cr Marie Laufiso acknowledged council staff and mana whenua from Ōtākou and Puketeraki.
"And I want to acknowledge the many elders who have been waiting patiently for us to get to this point," she said.
Cr Laufiso sang a waiata from Ngāti Porou.
"It’s sung at times of mourning and times of great policy-making," she said.
Cr Lee Vandervis voted against, having taken issue with what he described as an elevation of the council’s Te Pae Māori advisory group into governance.
He also drew attention to document text that was difficult to read in print and again expressed frustration about his struggle to translate some Māori content into English.Amid points of order, committee chairwoman Sophie Barker kept firm and calm control of proceedings.
Cr Barker clarified the council was required to provide opportunities for Māori to contribute to decision-making processes, but Te Pae Māori was not a decision-making body.
Cr Andrew Whiley said one way to enhance understanding of such material was to attend Te Pae forum meetings.
This seemed to be a reference to Cr Vandervis having resisted attendance.
"For someone who has their training wheels on when it comes to te reo, I can understand this report quite clearly," Cr Whiley said.
"It is a case of people not wanting to understand the report."
Cr Steve Walker said he was no expert in Māori, but he challenged himself to learn about it and such things as pipes, infrastructure and financial information.
Accounts could be difficult for lay people to understand, but councillors had to work hard to try to decipher them, he said.
Cr Carmen Houlahan had some reservations about the resolution, but she ended up voting for it.
