The council should also look into whether transferring functions, such as monitoring waterways, to mana whenua was desirable, it said.
The council’s progress towards becoming a bicultural organisation was audited by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu-owned Te Kura Taka Pini Ltd and the findings report will be presented to the council’s regional leadership committee tomorrow.
Considerable mutual respect existed between the council and mana whenua representatives and the relationship was "robust and constructive", the audit report said.
Overall, the council recognised mana whenua as a treaty partner in the region, not merely a stakeholder.
"The next step towards the council realising its commitment to partner with mana whenua is to shift its focus from consultation and engagement to [further] enabling papatipu rūnaka to exercise rights, responsibilities and obligations of rakatirataka and decision-making in their takiwā."
The council and mana whenua could look into joint projects, co-designing certain committee terms of reference, and investigating if the transfer of "council’s functions, powers or duties (under the Resource Management Act 1991) is desirable", the report said.
The relationship between the council and mana whenua was strongest at the governance and senior staff levels as well as the council’s relationship with papatipu rūnaka consultancies Aukaha and Te Ao Marama.
It was sustained by the organisation’s Mana to Mana group, a governance level forum between the council and regional papatipu rūnaka.
However, the report also said the partnership at an operational level lacked structure and "relies heavily" on individual staff who were committed to it.
"This can make the council’s progress on its partnership objective sporadic."
To address this, the council’s senior leadership should have "specific accountability" for the council’s bi-cultural objective, it said.
A staff report said the audit report and its recommendations were presented at an August Mana to Mana meeting and a draft implementation plan was to be discussed at the Mana to Mana meeting yesterday.
The total cost of the audit was $52,800, covered within this year’s existing budgets, it said.
