Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill

I move, That the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill, and, at the appropriate time, I will move an instruction to the committee that it report back to the House by the end of May.

I would like to have the House’s indulgence just for a moment and talk about a beautiful little place in the middle of the central North Island, a place that once upon a time people travelled to from all around the world—prior to COVID, obviously; well prior to COVID—to come and see the hot lakes, to come and see Māoriland, to come and see the geothermal paradise of the world. It is a place that is very dear to me—me and about 65,000 other people. It’s a place that we call home and it’s a place that actually has really meaningful roots. You see, when the township of Rotorua was established, it was a partnership that was envisaged by the local iwi—by Ngāti Uenukukōpako, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue—and the Crown at the time, under the auspices of judge Fenton, who was a Native Land Court judge at the time. It was their aspiration in working together that they would create a city that they would be able to be proud of.

Part of that arrangement was the gifting of reserves, of lands and reserves all around Rotorua for the establishment of the town, so that the people could really see that partnership in action. You see, by that point, we’d had a lot of tourists through already, and there was a real need to be able to settle down the unruly tourists but to also create a bit of order. So the people at the time who got together, who negotiated that agreement, they were very forthright in what they wanted, and what they wanted was a really decent partnership. I want to acknowledge that actually the agreement that they came up with was essentially a co-governance, co-management arrangement—that’s right. You see, back in the day, they said the agreement was that the Crown would lease the township out to the public for 99 years on behalf of the owners. The agreement was split into 16 clauses which set out the area for the township, how the ownership would be determined, and the reserves that were gifted by the owners to the Crown for both races, survey costs, rates, and the composition of the town board.

Now, while the township scheme was widely publicised and initially successful in attracting leases, the delay in the establishment of the proposed railway, a national economic downturn as well as a very significant eruption that happened at Mount Tarawera in 1886 led to a string of defaulting leases, contributing to an enormous loss in expected revenue, and the Crown stepped in and took full advantage of the situation at the time. In 1889, the Crown sought to purchase shares from the owners in the block, and the alienation of the block from the last few owners and the vesting of the township block—the Pukeroa Oruawhata block—in the Crown was completed through the compulsory acquisition of shares by the Thermal Springs Districts Act 1910. The Crown later sold these interests between 1930 and 1950, opening up the township lands to private ownership. Over the next few decades, Ngāti Whakaue sought answers from the Crown over the failure of the township scheme and the care of those gifted reserves.

You see, it all went pear-shaped, and for a long time, the locals in Rotorua have sought redress for what happened all those many years ago, to the point where in 1993, the council actually sought to work through better relations with their Te Arawa brothers and sisters. So they established the Te Arawa Standing Committee, which was a committee of council made up of Te Arawa representatives and chaired by the mayor. You see, what happened, though, was that the committee only had power to make recommendations to the council, and that was supposed to be the primary means of council engagement with Te Arawa. Over time, naturally, Te Arawa became very disillusioned with the Te Arawa Standing Committee. They realised it had a lack of impact and a lack of teeth and many sought new and innovative ways to be able to interact.

That led to a working group in 2012 being formed to try and get that true representation. What happened was that Te Arawa in 2014 proposed what they called the Te Arawa partnership board, otherwise known as Te Tatau o Te Arawa. The Rotorua Lakes Council resolved by majority decision to adopt a version of the model. So what does it do? At the moment, Te Tatau o Te Arawa have appointed representatives from Te Arawa on all of the committees within council. What’s more than that, they actually get voting rights and full participation rights in that as well. It’s a commitment to working in partnerships.

But last year, something significant happened as well. Last year, this Labour Government chose to prioritise Māori wards all around the country to make sure that we had guaranteed Māori representation at those tables. Our people back home, they got really excited about that idea—the idea of not just sitting on committees, not sitting on advisory committees that are unpaid with no teeth; they got excited about the true idea of a meaningful partnership, which was envisaged way back in the day when the Fenton Agreement was signed, which was never really honoured. For that reason, a bit of work was undertaken last year about what exactly Māori wards would mean for the people of Rotorua, and the council came up with this, which is the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill. They had a meeting recently to decide exactly how they wanted that to look. They took that out, they socialised that with the people of Rotorua, and what they did was they came back with what was a less-than-ideal arrangement. They voted in council for something that they didn’t really want, but what they thought—because we’re savvy back in Rotorua—was that we would come up with our own local bill, which would enact the actual partnership, the meaningful partnership that we want to see in Rotorua.

So what that arrangement looks like is one mayor elected at large; one Māori ward with three seats across the whole of Rotorua; one general ward with three seats across the whole of Rotorua; and four at-large seats, which can be voted for by anybody, if you’re on the general or the Māori roll. As well as that, the continuation of the Rotorua Lakes Community Board and also a Rotorua Rural Community Board as well. They called me up and said, “Would you be the local member that will take this to Parliament? Because we believe that it’s the right thing to do. Will you do it for our city?” And I said to them, “I will do it for our city.” More than that, I want this to come to our Māori Affairs Committee, of which I am the chair. But we started this work last year. With the Māori wards legislation that I’m so proud that we’ve been able to implement, across the country we are getting Māori sitting at decision-making tables. And this year, the year for local government decision-making, the year for our elections, we’re going to start seeing a change in the make-up of councils all across Aotearoa.

The relationship that Māori have with our council back home in Rotorua is an evolved one. We’ve been living in and around and with each other for a very, very long time, and it’s with that depth of knowledge, it’s with that depth of relationship, that I bring this local bill to the House today. This is partnership. This is what we want. This is what Māori have always wanted. This is what Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Uenukukōpako envisaged when they, back in the day, negotiated the terms and conditions for the Fenton Agreement. They always envisaged that there would be a meaningful partnership between Māori and the Crown. It was never honoured then. In the various iterations that we’ve had since, it’s never really been honoured, and this—this—is what they want.

The Treaty of Waitangi guarantees us as Māori tino rangatiratanga and the mana motuhake to be able to make decisions about what we want, how we want to be represented. I’d like to say that we would have already had that, but we haven’t, and that’s why we’re here now. It’s part of a larger conversation, because there are councils all around the country right now that are talking about the idea of co-governance. It’s a very important kaupapa. I know that many councils will also this year be asking themselves the same questions: what is the ideal situation for us?

We should never forget that the city’s foundation of Rotorua was built upon a unique relationship between the Crown and tangata whenua—the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Fenton Agreement should be remembered as being an integral part of our shared communal history as a city, but this local bill is going to take us into the future. It’s going to make sure that Māori are sitting around the decision-making table to be able to make great decisions for the future of the town that is the geothermal paradise of New Zealand. Thank you. I commend it to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I acknowledge the member for bringing this local bill to the House. I, obviously, rise on behalf of the National Party, as the member for North Shore and as the National Party spokesperson for local government. The National Party, in this instance, will be opposing this bill and I want to use this opportunity to outline our reasons why that is the case. I think that is important in order to bring context in terms of the opportunity and the challenges that we see with the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill.

The member who has brought this bill to the House has quoted “This is what they want.” and mentioned that a number of times. If I’m being blunt, the vote in regard to this by local council in Rotorua was a vote of six to five. So in terms of my basic maths, that is not a unanimous position in terms of support for this bill and, actually, in terms of the mayor having to place their vote to be able to get this across the line. So what this indicates, and local bills are quite unique in the context of this House—we don’t see that many of them and when we do it has very much been historically the case that there is a high threshold for ensuring that these bills have been well syndicated, well consulted, and well considered before they come to this House, because they are in effect bills on behalf of our local communities. In this case it is our view that this bill has not been through that degree of engagement and stakeholder consultation and actually in terms of where it’s been positioned, there is also a significant amount of variation of views around the table at council of actually supporting and opposing this bill. That, some may say, is just the way it is, but, as I said, the threshold in terms of this type of legislation is generally much higher, and so that is a concern for us.

The other aspect is that there was in the region of around 159 submissions that the council obtained as part of their consideration for this bill coming to this House in terms of their support, and there was significant opposition as part of that submission process to this bill as well. I think that is also important context when we stand here this evening in order to assess this and say, “Is this the right thing that we should be doing?” I just wanted to bring that background context to the House so that we know that when statements are made such as, I quote, “This is what they want.”, we can substantiate that with the facts that are on the ground.

It is the view of the National Party that this bill is unnecessary, and it is unnecessary for a variety of reasons, and I’ll go into that a little bit in detail. Rotorua is an absolutely stunning part of this country. My wife is from Rotorua, so I say that with vested interest, and I’ve spent a lot of time in that part of the world. But Rotorua should be working within the limitations of the Local Government Act for their governance arrangements. It is not appropriate, in this instance, for them to be trying to take a nuanced approach or a different or special approach for something that they can achieve through existing legislation. And I think that is one of the key areas of why we believe that this bill is unnecessary.

The other aspect which was raised by the member who has brought this bill to the House was around the co-governance aspects. The council in Rotorua, as have a number of councils, has committed to introducing Māori wards, so therefore some of these changes will be able to be undertaken legally through those laws. We don’t require a special law or this House to make such changes as are being proposed in order to achieve some of the outcomes that are being desired. Therefore, again, this bill is unnecessary.

I think it is important to acknowledge that when a bill is coming to this House, the ability for central government to start to get involved with nuanced or bespoke arrangements for individual councils, of which there are 67 across this country, does create a significant degree of complexity. It involves a significant amount of unintended consequence in terms of those decisions. And I think, as I said, this goes above and beyond what is required and what the council could already do through existing legislation.

The other element I want to raise is obviously we talked about the city and the surrounding areas of Rotorua. And as I said, Rotorua has a significant number of opportunities, but it also has a significant number of issues. One of the key priorities of local government is “to enable democratic local decision-making” and, in particular, “to promote social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing” for their community, both present and future. And I quote there out of section 10(1) of the Local Government Act 2002.

Why I use that as a reference is that councils across the country and local government across the country, at the moment, are faced with a significant burden of reform under this Government. This example is another element of reform and change which will be impacting those hard-working resources that we have within our local government entities across our towns and cities and, particularly, in this case, Rotorua in terms of their focus. The key issues that are facing Rotorua are significant. We talk about the impacts around cost of living impacts in terms of the population there—emergency housing, some 381 children in emergency housing and motels in Rotorua at the moment. Why I say that is that there is a lot that council and local government should and could be doing in order to support our local communities for their areas of priority that they should be focused on.

Focusing on doing something such as this is unnecessary and is a distraction in the context of their core business, which is to support the welfare of their communities. And at a cost of around $49,000, which has been spent so far—sorry, $46,500, and that excludes staff time, which in many cases is probably the equivalent, if not more, of the actual fiscal cost. This has been to date already an expensive fiscal undertaking, costing the Rotorua ratepayers in order to go through a process that, as I’ve said, we believe is unnecessary. So that’s the context in which we place that. That’s the reasons and rationale of why National won’t be supporting this bill this evening.

I think it is important to recognise that local councils and local government across this country do do a significant amount for our communities. They are a pivotal part in terms of the delivery of services to our communities. And what I’ve seen, as I travel around the country and when I’ve been to Rotorua, is the immense amount of value that could be contributed by such entities. So I would ask those members of local government in Rotorua to focus back on the key priorities for your city, focus on the elements of social and economic wellbeing that will benefit your communities. Don’t get distracted by trying to undertake legislative change such as this, which can be achieved through other mechanisms, and focus on core business. I think that would be echoed by the many ratepayers and community members across that area. And if you do want to proceed with such structural change, then do it in a process which involves everyone, undertake full and fair consultation and engagement with all of the stakeholders, and ensure that before you come to this House you’ve done that in a way which is comprehensive and significant, and therefore you are able to articulate to us a position that is well supported.

Sadly, that is not the case with this local bill and, as such, National will be opposing this bill.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill; I’m delighted to speak in support of it. Can I congratulate the Rotorua District Council for bringing this unique issue to the House, which we are addressing in this bill, and can I especially thank the member in charge of the bill, my good colleague Tāmati Coffey, and thank him also for outlining the rich whakapapa that underpins this bill, which goes right back to those early agreements and that partnership that was forged through the township agreement—through the founding of the Rotorua township. And can I also acknowledge the Te Arawa Waka, ngā iwi o Te Arawa Waka, who are steadfast, absolute mana whenua in such a beautiful region of the country. I do agree this is a very beautiful region, and I actually thought Tāmati Coffey was describing Te Tai Tonga—the great South Island—when he was describing Rotorua. But, minus the mud pools and the hillsides, these are very, very similar, equivalent areas that we are connected to.

But I want to cut to the point. This is a local bill which the Rotorua District Council has brought to this House. The actual bill has been voted on unanimously in support by the council. So, contrary to what the previous member did say, the 6-5 split vote—that’s irrelevant to this bill; that was in relation to some previous iterations of compositions which were considered in the past. But this bill has the full support of the Rotorua District Council, and that is why we have the fulsome support behind it too. This is all about giving expression to that partnership, as my good colleague Tāmati has outlined, and we can do this through the creation and the adoption of the Māori ward legislation. That is so significant, and I want to acknowledge my colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and our good Government for introducing such a landmark piece of legislation, which is going to transform local government right across Aotearoa. I’m looking forward to the results of the elections later this year and seeing so many new Māori faces around the council tables.

So this bill puts in place the optimal composition for representation for the Rotorua District Council. They’ve been going through a representation review process, and, then, coming up through that process, it comes up against the Local Electoral Act and certain formulas and calculations that lie within that Act. This bill is a way to provide a unique solution which ensures that the desired composition, which provides a fair representative partnership reflected around the council table, is given effect—as has been mentioned, one mayor to be voted on at large, three councillors voted within a Māori ward by the Māori roll, three general members elected within a general ward, and four members elected at large. So excuse me if I might have—I’m sure I got that right. But the 10 members of the council will be represented as such. That’s what this bill does, and there is some haste to the passage of this bill to ensure that it coincides with, or is able to flow into, the upcoming elections that will take place this year. And this arrangement will be in effect for the next two elections to follow.

So can I once again just thank the Rotorua District Council and Tāmati Coffey for bringing this important bill to the House. I’m no stranger to local bills, and I’m currently the member in charge of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill. And, again, they’re all about ensuring that mana whenua presence and representation around the table, which is so important and that reflects the promise of the Treaty—that that can be reflected around the council table not only, in my hope, around the permanent representation down south with Ngāi Tahu but also now through this bill through the composition that will give equal weight and equal balance between the mana whenua, Te Arawa; the iwi; the Māori roll; and the general members.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare; thank you. The Green Party is very pleased to be supporting the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill. When the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill was passed last year, that was a major step forward for Māori representation in local government and in recognising the Crown-Māori relationship at a local level. It was that law change that the Green Party had sought to do through a member’s bill in the name of Marama Davidson, and we were delighted when the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and the Labour Government picked it up. Previously, that requirement that councils had to run a community poll if they wanted to establish a Māori ward, but they didn’t have to run such a poll if they were establishing a general ward, was hugely discriminatory, and there was a lot of public support for removal of this double standard.

So that law change has given councils a chance to decide that they will have Māori wards at the local elections without having to run that poll. It’s providing one more tool to provide space for Māori around the council decision-making table. So, of course, Rotorua District Council has sought to make the most of that opportunity to ensure that their communities are fully represented. But the provisions in the Local Electoral Act have caused problems. So this bill, sponsored by Tāmati Coffey, this local bill, is an effort to remedy those problems. And we know that the Hon Nanaia Mahuta is working on more widespread changes to deal with these issues, but they won’t be ready in time for this election.

So the Rotorua District Council, as councils are required to do every six years, set out to review its representation arrangements last year, and it was doing that in the way that the Local Electoral Act required. I’d just like to do a shout-out to the Rotorua Daily Post and the journalist Felix Desmarais there, because of the very matter of fact and helpful articles that the Rotorua Daily Post has been providing about the whole representation review—the processes, the requirements of the law, and just what has happened. And I think that really shows the benefits of the funding that the Government has provided to media for reporting on local democracy issues—it allows a lot more coverage than might otherwise have happened.

As the Rotorua Daily Post noted, this bill has been on a long journey. There was, first of all, the governance model that the council first proposed. There is what it now prefers. There’s the interim model that it agreed to last November when it got advice from the Local Government Commission that its preferred model was inconsistent with the Local Electoral Act. And then there is what is contained in this bill.

So the council wants a representation arrangement that the Local Electoral Act doesn’t currently provide for. It wants a representation arrangement which provides greater representation and a greater say and greater space at that council table for Māori. At the moment, the council has 10 councillors and a mayor, and as others have noted, this bill will provide for one mayor elected at large, one Māori ward with three councillor seats, one general ward with three councillor seats, and four seats where councillors are elected at large.

This is the preferred model that Rotorua Lakes Council has chosen, because it means that those on the Māori roll are electing the same number of councillors as are being elected by those on the general roll—three in the ward and four at large. But this option is inconsistent with the formula in the Schedule to the Local Electoral Act, because that formula, plus the 10 percent plus or minus rule, which relates to the number of voters that each councillor represents, isn’t complied with. The Māori electoral population in the Rotorua district is 28 percent of the total population, so if the formula in the Local Electoral Act was applied, that would mean that the six ward members should be split into four for a general ward, and only two for the Māori ward. That would see Māori voters voting for fewer councillors than those on the general roll. So this bill, in allowing for that three by three split, is much more equitable, will allow much stronger representation, and will mean a more diverse community—and one that in the Green Party’s view better recognises the diversity of Rotorua—and we are pleased to support it.

Mr Speaker, thank you. May I start by thanking the Rotorua Lakes Council for their work in carefully assessing the representation required by their community and the service of bringing together a piece of legislation which captures those hopes and aspirations which they heard from the people of Rotorua. I also offer my congratulations to that council in its adoption of Māori wards in May 2021 which, as my colleague who made a contribution before me noted, was a major step forward in the ability of Māori around the country to be represented at the governance table locally in all councils. That’s important because these towns, these cities, these local environments, whether it’s the river or the maunga, these iwi are kaitiaki of those and they must be at the table to represent the interests of those areas as well as the people for whom they are guardians.

May I make some quick comments before my speech on the governance arrangements that we’re talking about today which acknowledge iwi and Māori around that governance table. We need a mechanism for shared discussions between Māori and Government at all levels in order to achieve what was guaranteed to all New Zealanders under Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. It’s important that we have those voices—whether they are Māori, whether they are Pākehā—coming together as equals to be able to have those discussions that we need.

National and Labour Governments have supported co-governance arrangements around the country. These arrangements bring us closer together; they don’t pull us apart. At a local level, they are particularly important for empowering iwi to look after not only their own people but the people in the area who share the whenua, who have a historical connection with the land as they do, and who share those goals of looking after it like they do.

Now, let me turn to why this bill is necessary: because it creates that meaningful partnership, the sort that Ngāti Whakaue envisioned in this city of Rotorua when it was founded. It gives effect to the outcome of the local council’s review of the representation needs. It would apply to the next two elections and be able to give changes which would otherwise be prevented by the Local Electoral Act 2001. The ideal representation structure that Rotorua council came to is not currently enabled by that Act. Instead, the council has adopted this makeshift position; as my colleague Tāmati Coffey pointed out, this is not the ideal structure. It has a number of setbacks for iwi, who are represented, as well as those sharing the council table in order to make decisions for everyone involved.

Why I do I support it? Well, this local bill, which has come to Tāmati Coffey to take to Parliament, embodies all of those decisions that have been made at a local level already. It only applies to this Rotorua District Council, at their request, and doesn’t reflect what happens all around the country; instead it’s a bespoke arrangement, and it’s important that it’s considered within that lens: to effect the particular outcomes that are needed in Rotorua for those iwi who hold mana whenua for the region.

It is an important step because it would allow iwi who have been working very well with the council to be represented at the table in a way which they choose and other councillors and members of the community want for them. It’s important that we give effect to those aspirations so that they are able to do that.

With this reading, there is a lot of water under the bridge for the Māori Affairs Committee to inquire into. There will be an opportunity for me and my colleagues in the committee to hear from those local groups. We heard that there had been some 150 submissions to the council and I anticipate a number of other submissions at the committee. It will be a pleasure to hear from people of Rotorua about how this will affect them but also what they hope for their city in the future; not only those technical mechanisms that the council can give effect to for these decision makings but what they want out of having Māori and an empowered iwi around the governance table. What can we achieve with iwi working hand in hand with local government? Things like Eat Streat in Rotorua which makes the best of the beautiful lakefront along with the geothermal power and the Māori art and design principles; those things which make the city better are inherently going hand in hand with iwi involvement. It’s that kind of future that I want to see for Rotorua and that kind of future that I want to see for New Zealand. That’s why I support it.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This problem comes from a fundamental misunderstanding about what it is that New Zealand needs and what it is that Rotorua needs. The Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill will do nothing to solve the problems that Rotorua faces. Co-governance does nothing to solve the problems that Rotorua and deprived communities in places like parts of Rotorua face. It doesn’t solve the problem with infrastructure funding and financing that’s led to water quality in Rotorua being severely affected by waste water for decades and decades. It doesn’t solve the problem of how to get more homes built—homes to house the hundreds and hundreds of people that this Labour Government has dumped on Rotorua because it doesn’t know how to deal with them. This bill does nothing to help Rotorua heal and move forward from the way it’s been treated by this Government, but, more importantly, from the way its existing councillors and the Labour mayor—a former MP in the Labour Party—has treated Rotorua. I’ll give you an example.

But before I start, I just want to tell you: I treasure Rotorua. I studied in Rotorua. I studied at the Forest Research Institute library when I was studying to become an environmental scientist and engineer. I’ve spent years of my life staying with family in Rotorua, on holidays, and for special occasions. I lived there for six months in the 1990s. I think of Rotorua as my second home. So it actually causes me a great deal of emotional pain to see what’s happened to Rotorua under this Government and under the leadership of its Labour mayor.

We think about how co-governance could help fix Rotorua’s water quality problem, the quality of the lakes. Well, actually, a few years ago, it was decided that the waste water from Rotorua township should be pumped up and sprayed into the forests and hills around Rotorua because that addressed some of the legitimate concerns that mana whenua had with discharging waste water into the lakes and into the river. It seemed like a good thing to do. But what we know now is that that contaminated groundwater is now moving into the lake, even though it was discharged to ground and should have been taken up by the trees. It’s quite clear that solutions to waste water and environmental and other problems require good science and good data rather than co-governance to solve.

I’ll give you an example about homes and housing. Rotorua’s been the dumping ground—the dumping ground—for this Government for hundreds of people into emergency housing and into motels. This bill does nothing to house people in Rotorua and actually to solve some of Rotorua’s terrible underlying social problems, which are actually the result of years and years of Government-sponsored, State-sponsored poverty. There’s families who’ve been on benefits for multiple generations and who know nothing more than the deprivation of living on benefits. Now, it’s clear that this Government thinks that by increasing benefits by $50 or $25 a week, or whatever it is this time around, is going to help them, but it’s not, because what it doesn’t do is actually deliver thriving communities and a healthy economy. That’s what Rotorua needs to grow.

That’s why the ACT Party, fundamentally, disagrees with this bill. It doesn’t solve a single problem that the people of Rotorua need Government to help solve. It doesn’t help people in business in Rotorua employ more people.

The Rotorua District Council is suffering a complete meltdown. Under the leadership of its Labour-led mayor, it’s created six or seven new general manager roles, paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They couldn’t even come up with a job description for these new general managers after nearly a year. This is a council which sponsored a piece of public artwork on the waterfront but couldn’t even get the foundations designed properly, so it had to be removed.

This bill about co-governance does absolutely nothing to help the people of Rotorua. That’s why the ACT Party cannot support this bill. We believe, in fact, in reforming infrastructure funding and financing so that local councils have the right incentives to do their job.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and it’s a pleasure to be speaking on the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill, a local bill put forward by the local member Tāmati Coffey. Can I just correct some of the words that I’ve heard that have been all negative, and that’s not my perception and experience of Rotorua. It has been nothing but positive every time I go there.

Can I acknowledge Tāmati Coffey for really explaining and laying out those terms of reference right at the beginning in speaking to this bill, because I get a little bit sick and tired of people rolling out continuously negative facts and figures around Rotorua. If we want action, my onus is and the upbringing I had is that you help—you get in there and help—and I don’t believe that this is just the responsibility of a hard-working mayor and a former member.

Stevie Chadwick has certainly proven her stripes. She’s gone through that district as their member of Parliament and now mayor. But I must say that even though a Labour member, which I assume she is, she did not stand under a Labour endorsement or under the Labour brand. She stood for all the people of the district, and the good people of Rotorua voted her in.

I want to just continue that because it’s important to note that they, the council, have put this to the people, and when the majority of people get a bit nervous about sharing power. Looking at the assets and the public services that the district delivers and owns, it can be scary. But look, the district makes no apology, in my opinion, about their desire to say, “Look, with our history”—which was well explained by Tāmati Coffey. I’ve not heard that in such detail and of such a succinct nature, where one can actually go “Wow, I didn’t know that.” But this reflects that and heralds the reset that’s desired by the Rotorua Lakes Council.

I look at Māori wards and the debate that we’ve had, and I’m proud of that debate. It needed to happen. It definitely needed to happen, because, too often, people like myself when I was on the Wellington City Council would say, “Oh, it’s easy—it’s easy for Māori to get on council. Look at Paul Eagle.” That’s absolutely not the case. It was as difficult for Māori to get on any council a hundred years ago as it is today, and just because we see more brown faces, it doesn’t mean that the current system works. So I applaud the desire of this Government to make sure that there’s a true, meaningful partnership on local authorities right throughout New Zealand.

When you take a look at what the Rotorua Lakes Council did in terms of conducting their representation review, it did say it was one mayor elected at large, one Māori ward with three seats, one general ward with three seats, and four seats at large. I think that’s entirely reasonable. That’s been adopted by the council back on 21 May 2021, and the process has then taken off from there. I’m proud that they’ve decided to say, “Look, let’s not wait and let’s not have the debate in terms of the fundamentals of that conversation. Let’s take it through a local bill process to promote the legislative change.”, which they’re able to do at the local level.

I’m happy to be on the Māori Affairs Committee, and I’m glad that it’s coming to this committee, because it means that we can have that debate with those who disagree and, of course, those who agree with it. It is time. I’m not apologetic for such an action by the Rotorua Lakes Council. I think it is leadership in action. It promotes partnership, and we will have that debate. But we will also allow the people of the district to talk positively about this and to enter a new era where they already share, co-govern, work in partnership, and work together for what’s best for the Rotorua District.

So I applaud the mayor and the MP Tāmati Coffey. I’m glad that I’m part of this Government and on the Māori Affairs Committee. I commend this bill to the House.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, tēnā rawa atu ki a koe. Ki te kaunihera, ki Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa, tēnā rawa atu ki a koutou katoa. Ngā māreikura, ngā whatukura o te motu, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Mr Speaker, warm greetings to you. To the council, to Ngāti Whakaue and Te Arawa, warm greetings to you all. To the esteemed members from around the country, greetings, greetings, greetings one and all.]

I’ve been reflecting over the past week, since we’ve been having the debate, the discussion of co-governance, and I look into those two words and think, does this reflect the mature debate that we are having as a country? Does it reflect the aspirations and the opportunity for all New Zealanders?

But I come back to this piece of legislation, the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill. I acknowledge the Rotorua Lakes District Council for their courage—that they have thought through considerably on this piece of work about how they can elevate representation for Māori; be better representatives for their rohe; but ensure that they are creating greater outcomes for all of their people and their communities, families, and tamariki that are there.

This bill specifies representation arrangements to apply to the next two tri-annual general elections of the Rotorua District Council. These arrangements would conform with the findings of a representation review held by the council in 2021, but are not currently enabled under the Local Electoral Act 2001. I look again at this conversation, and I think for Rotorua, and in this debate, we’re playing a greater role here—we’re educating our communities, we’re educating Aotearoa. We’re having a respectful and a mature debate—not sure about a couple of speeches ago. But it does offer us all the opportunity to think about how we can better govern our country, how we can better fulfil our Te Tiriti obligations, how we can better protect our environment—a critical role of such councils like Rotorua District Council in this particular one.

What this does is it sets up a new structure for the council: one mayor elected at large; one Māori ward with three seats—Te Ipu Wai Taketake ward; one general ward with three seats—Te Ipu Arukari ward; four at-large seats; a Rotorua Lakes Community Board; and a Rotorua Rural Community Board. That is wonderful representation. It covers all four corners of Rotorua, of Te Arawa, of Ngati Whakaue. And, you know, there are tensions and challenges, but it’s about the steps that we take as Māori, as non-Māori, in this country. As somebody having both Māori and Pakeha decent—both cultures that I’m really, really proud of—I’m blessed, really, that I’m able to have a unique perspective where I see the value of such pieces of legislation like this.

Sadly, I listened to member Simon Watts, the Opposition’s spokesperson for local government; together we are representatives on Auckland’s North Shore, and over there we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to partner much more closely with our mana whenua. We need to reflect some of the progress that other parts of Tāmaki-makau-rau—Auckland—have made in being better Te Tiriti partners. So to hear that he and the Opposition aren’t supporting this particular bill this afternoon is disappointing. It’s against their candidate for Rotorua Lakes Council that I heard on the AM Show earlier in the week, against her view. While I disagree with her that co-governance nationally isn’t a great thing, her view was that locally it is a very good thing.

So this particular piece of legislation is totally a step in the right direction. I acknowledge Rotorua Lakes Council for the courage, the bravery, that they have taken the steps towards progress at being better representatives for all people in Rotorua, to make progress in this very, very deep, important, sensitive, yet progressive conversation of co-governance. I commend this bill to the House.

We’ve often heard members of this House speak on issues like that. I’m glad the debate has been respectful. I want to start my contribution by saying I, with many others of this Parliament, believe every citizen in this country is equal, that laws should apply to all, that we should respect the property rights of all, that Treaty settlements should be full and final—including the apology that comes with them—and elections should always be fair, democratic, and proportional. Last year, the Government brought a bill before Parliament that said that it would make a decision to allow councils to decide how local government would arrange itself. They said, at the time, that the current system was not fair to Māori and there were few Māori wards. They didn’t trust New Zealanders to say, actually, what we will do is allow everybody to have a say on this, to make it fair, irrespective of the type of ward you may want in a council area, or no wards. Everybody will have a say. And they brought the legislation before Parliament and they rushed it through very, very quickly with only weeks, actually, in the select committee for New Zealanders to have a say before it was pushed through, because they said it needed to enter into law last year before the elections this year.

We, at the time, opposed that in the National Party and said, actually we do support Māori wards and we will fix it so that local people can have a say, because it is important that local voters—all of them, every single one of them that wants to vote—can have a say on important issues like this. Unfortunately, because the legislation last year gave that responsibility to councils alone, all over the country the councils have been using the normal system they would to talk to voters, and then, often behind closed doors, come up with an arrangement that they believed was fair under the guidance and the framework and the law set by this Parliament, so that every council district in the country would be able to use the criteria to make sure that the election was fair and proportionate. Unfortunately, the proposal brought to this House by the Rotorua Lakes Council does not do that. It is, as we have heard earlier, outside the law that was passed last year, so Rotorua itself needs an extra law just for them. Rotorua is a unique place but, in as far as the way that we elect our councillors and how that is structured, every part of New Zealand should be the same so that we have a level and equal playing field.

I support Māori wards as a voter on council elections locally, but what this does is actually innately unfair in the way that it has been structured because, when members opposite are talking about co-governance—and we need to be very clear; this is what this proposal is—last year the Government rejected that when they put through the local government election Act for Māori wards. But this is around co-governance. What this does is says if you are Māori and you’ve opted to be on a Māori roll, which is 28 percent of the voting population in the Rotorua Lakes District, you have an equal say to the other 72 percent. It actually doesn’t recognise that there are possibly as many Māori on the general roll who are also disadvantaged when it comes to how they elect their councillors, and that is the reason that we’re opposing this, and, actually, it needs to be fixed.

There is one final thing here. It is important that we get this right. It’s not good enough that this House has been asked to say this is only for two elections because, actually, it ends up being a much wider and much greater debate than only Rotorua. We’ve heard others here say, actually, in all parts of the country, we should have co-governance. That’s a debate that must be had. It can’t be done quietly—quickly last year when the Government rushed the legislation through—and now by a way of a local bill just for one council.

Some of the councillors and the mayor are not standing for re-election later this year. This should be campaigned on. The case should be made widely to the people of Rotorua; everybody should have a say. The council should actually say: “This is of such significance that we are having to ask Parliament to change the law that applies to the whole of the country. We’re asking them to change it just for Rotorua. There should be a referendum on this locally, at the very least. It should be campaigned on, and then the new council should be the ones that make this decision.” There are many people in Rotorua that feel that they haven’t been listened to, people that feel that they have been left out of this debate, that they actually didn’t get their say. We won’t be supporting this because it does not deliver elections that are fair, democratic, or proportional. Every part of the country should actually elect in the same way, and we will be voting against this.

Thank you, Madam Speaker It’s a real pleasure to rise and speak on this bill—and just to clarify for the member who’s just resumed his seat, Todd McClay, the select committee process will enable people to have a say as well. So that’s a great opportunity to have a say on this bill.

It’s really interesting to have a local bill come before this House and I just want to acknowledge the local member Tāmati Coffey for his sponsorship of this bill. I think it’s really important that he has engaged alongside the council—

💬 Hon Todd McClay: He lost his seat twice.

Don’t be mean. He has engaged alongside the council—

💬 Hon Todd McClay: Lost the first election and then lost his seat.

—and agreed to sponsor this bill. I think someone over there’s got sour grapes.

I’d also like to congratulate the Rotorua community for bringing this bill and thinking so much about it. I’d like to acknowledge the mayor, Steve Chadwick, who is retiring this year and it has been a particularly fascinating community to watch. I’m based in the Tauranga community and one of the things that I have done in the past is buddy MP into the Rotorua community and it has been a real pleasure to watch partnership in action with tangata whenua and council. And it’s something that I can only hope; that we as a council eventually get to that place in Tauranga.

Essentially, this bill is very clear about what it wants to do. There was an interim option, and I’d like to correct Hansard for the other National member that has resumed his seat prior to the previous speaker. He did say that this bill was not agreed to unanimously. This part of the bill, the local bill, was; the interim agreement or interim option was not the part that was agreed to unanimously.

So what we know about this bill, and I think it is particularly useful thing to repeat, is that we’re looking at voter parity. So the preferred option that has come to this House to be discussed is that there will be one mayor, one Māori ward with three seats—so that’s Te Ipu Wai Taketake—and three general seats: Te Ipu Auraki ward. So there’s a general ward and a Māori ward. There will be four at-large seats and then, of course, there’s the Rotorua Lakes Community Board and the Rural Community Board. This, to me, sounds very much like democracy. It sounds very much like there is actually parity amongst voters.

I want to acknowledge the fact that there are 21,700 people on the Māori roll. There are 55,600 people on the general roll. And what I would like to do is encourage each and every person on that roll to get into local democracy and to vote. I’d also like to encourage them and those who are going to appear before the Māori Affairs Committee to actually really think about the implications of how this would look rolling out across the country—rolling out across the city.

One of the things that I think is particularly interesting is the history, which the member Tāmati Coffey talked to us about. He talked to us about the Fenton Agreement. Gosh, I wish that we had a museum in our city. I did some Googling and managed to find some information from the Rotorua Museum, and I want to again state this quote: “We should never forget that the city’s foundation was built upon a unique relationship between the Crown and local tāngata whenua; the good, the bad and the ugly. The Fenton Agreement should be remembered as being an integral part of our shared, communal history as a city, an example of great generosity by iwi and a forward thinking willingness to work together.” Isn’t that a great thought for our country, and isn’t that a great thought for the city of Rotorua that we could go back to go forward? And on that note, I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe e Te Pīka, tēnā tātou i Te Whare. Rere tonu ana ngā mihi ki te taniwha a Moana Jackson, haere atu rā e koro. He whatitiri ki te rangi, ko Te Arawa ki te whenua.]

[Greetings to the Speaker, greetings to us all in the House. I also acknowledge the great leader Moana Jackson; may you rest in peace. Thunder in the heavens, the Arawa on Earth.]

On 21 May 2021, Rotorua Lakes Council resolved to establish a Māori ward and then commence the representation review. Following the representation review, on 19 November 2021 the council resolved that the ideal representation arrangement for Rotorua would comprise of one mayor elected at large; one Māori ward with three seats, Te Ipu Wai Taketake; one general ward with three seats, Te Ipu Wai Auraki; four at-large seats; a Rotorua Lakes Community Board; and a Rotorua Rural Community Board.

This arrangement is currently prevented by clause 2 of Schedule 1A of the Local Electoral Act 2001 as it does not satisfy the formula currently specified for calculating the number of Māori ward members of the council. Te Paati Māori policy and kaupapa support the establishment of Māori wards and mana whenua representation in local government, and it has long been a priority for us. As the member for Te Waiariki, I support wholeheartedly our people of Te Arawa and the Rotorua community in our fight for greater decision-making roles in our rohe.

The framework adopted by the council will provide for greater tangata whenua representation in decisions, and it is supported with iwi partnership, as mentioned by Tāmati Coffey in his opening speech of this debate. Greater Māori participation in local decisions will help improve Māori outcomes at a local policy level across environmental, social, and economic areas. The framework with the three Māori wards, equal in number to the general wards, is one of the fairest models for Māori representation in local government—across the whole country—that I have seen.

As Rotorua is nearly 50 percent Māori, this is not only an alignment to the Fenton Agreement but it moves towards a more Tiriti-centric approach. The Rotorua township agreement, or the Fenton Agreement, was signed in 1880. There was a vision to establish a township that would respect the rangatiratanga of mana whenua, that would welcome Pākehā. It didn’t just set aside the major reserves, lakefront, hospital, Government Gardens, etc., but also promised one seat out of three on the town board. The dedicated seat was removed within 10 years. How quickly the Crown forgets its commitments to Māori when it suits. There will be people in this House that will be against the wants of the Te Arawa iwi and the people in Rotorua because of their racist rhetoric and scaremongering propaganda of co-governance.

Co-governance happened in Rotorua 15 years ago. It happened when the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement established co-governance between the council, Rotorua Lakes Council, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and Te Arawa. That settlement has been an outstanding success in working together to think long term and for the health and mauri of our beautiful lakes. When we ensure that Māori and Pākehā are both at the table, we create good outcomes for our whole community.

Don’t be afraid of allowing Māori voices at the table. I heard the ACT Party say that this bill will not make a difference to Rotorua’s problems. This is because they want the status quo, which is the current State; a colonised State. As quoted by Dr Moana Jackson, the colonised State is a racist State. If you take over the lands and the power of other peoples—in this case Te Arawa—and replace it with yours on the notion that they were inferior to you, then that’s a racist State. This is smoke and mirrors for their continued attack on Māori and iwi, which is laced with racism. Only indigenous knowledge will save this planet. And the issues outlined by ACT—in having Māori equally making decisions—will not only be better for Te Arawa but for the country.

The council voted in favour of this proposal. With respect, this House should support it without hesitation. I want to congratulate the Rotorua Lakes Council, Te Arawa, and Rotorua community for your courageous move in designing an exemplary model that can be adopted by other councils around the country. This sets a positive precedent.

I look forward to the discussions in the Māori Affairs Committee, and Te Paati Māori wholeheartedly support this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can I just acknowledge the support around the House for this bill. This will come to the Māori Affairs Committee. It’s great to have the support of the Māori Party and also the Green Party of Aotearoa. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, but also to our Labour caucus who have been fearless in the face of making sure that we have Māori sitting around our decision-making tables in meaningful partnership with our iwi, with our hapū, and with our whānau. It’s something that we’re actually passionate about over here on this side of the House. Every election, especially in our Māori seats, Labour enjoys support from our Māori communities. But it’s the aspiration that underpins that. It’s the aspiration of our people that say, “We want more of a meaningful partnership. We want to have our say; we haven’t had it before.”

As I mentioned earlier, the Te Arawa Standing Committee had no powers. They had no powers; they were advisers. It was actually desperation that led them to seek alternative solutions. We’ve got Te Tatau o Te Arawa right now, and that’s our partnership board. But, again, actually, there’s nothing like sitting around that decision-making table.

This bill will come to the Māori Affairs Committee and we’re ready for it. But also, I can imagine some of the submissions that will come through. There have been a lot of submissions through the Māori wards debate, through the latest item of business—the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill. There’s lots of kōrero and lots of calls for democracy, because, actually, people across New Zealand have become really wedded to this idea of democracy being one-way. Can I say to the people of New Zealand and all of those people that are listening to this that are thinking about putting in submissions: democracy, at its very fundamental is Greek. The parliamentary process that we partake in right here, that we’ve cut and pasted for our Chamber, right here, is actually English; this is from a Westminster system. There is nothing to preclude us being able to tweak democracy to make it work for us here in Aotearoa.

Because we signed this thing called Te Tiriti o Waitangi, all the way back in 1840—which was prior to the Te Tatou Partnership Board, prior to the Te Arawa Standing Committee, prior to the Fenton Agreement—and even though Te Arawa didn’t sign the Treaty, we were heavily affected by it. Lands were taken. We’ve been seeking meaningful partnership for a very long time.

Earlier, just before, the member before me, the member for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi, talked about how this actually is democratic. This is a local bill that is allowed within the confines of our rules here in Parliament. This is democracy. The fact that it was actually given to us by elected members of the Rotorua Lakes Council that voted unanimously for it means that it’s democratically come here to the House. Not all things that come here to the House are popular. Sure, there are some people that will absolutely disagree with it.

We’ve just heard from the local member for Rotorua, the Hon Todd McClay, how much he doesn’t want this bill to succeed, and he’ll have to respond to his people back home who really, really are looking for leadership in this area and find this dismal response from the member for Rotorua. But this is what was signed up to all those years ago, in Te Tiriti o Waitangi—

💬 Hon Todd McClay: Says a list MP.

TĀMATI COFFEY: —when we were seeking tino rangatiratanga. For that member, I’ll tell him what that means, because he probably doesn’t know. Tino rangatiratanga is actually the ability to determine for yourself what you want. It’s not about actually getting a cut-and-paste model from overseas and then cutting and pasting it to how you make decisions here locally because that’s the way we’ve always done it. No. This is about Māori coming to the table and saying, “This is how we see our tino rangatiratanga, our mana motuhake playing out in a local context.”

If we had had that representation way back in the day, maybe things would have been quite different in Rotorua. Maybe we’d have high numbers of people showing up to our local body elections. Maybe we wouldn’t have had the paru seeping into our lake over successive generations and successive councils that have made bad decisions for the people of Rotorua today. Maybe if they had been making mokopuna decisions, thinking about the benefit of Rotorua in generations to come, maybe Rotorua would be in a very different position. That opportunity hasn’t been afforded; it has now through this local bill. I put a challenge out there to everybody that believes in everything that I’ve gone and said right now to make sure that you participate in this process. I commend this bill to the House.

The question is, That the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill be considered by the Māori Affairs Committee.

Motion agreed to.