Rep aims for full council role
Not being able to vote when it mattered most has prompted an Invercargill mana whenua representative to stand for council.
Pania Coote has represented Te Rūnanga o Awarua at Invercargill City Council since 2021, when two mana whenua roles were introduced.
The appointees were given voting rights at committee level, but not full council.
Ms Coote said she had gained an in-depth knowledge about council operations, but the voting restriction had shown the "limits of symbolic inclusion".
"Literally I could participate on the subcommittees and contribute greatly, but when it came to the final decision at the council table, unfortunately I didn't have the vote.
"Representation must be more than just a presence and must have influence, so that's why I'm standing for council."
Ms Coote said her commitment was driven by responsible leadership, efficient governance and tangible progress on issues which mattered most to the community.
Council needed to be driven by energy, vision and practical-type leadership, she said.
Voters do not select mana whenua representatives at local body elections; rather they are put forward by their respective rūnanga.
In response to questions, council manager governance and legal Michael Morris explained the Local Government Act meant only elected members could vote at full council.
Including mana whenua roles on committees was a decision made at the start of each term by way of a vote, he said.
"This is usually put to council at the inaugural meeting, so I'd expect this to happen at the beginning of November after the October election."
How much the representatives were paid was also determined by the incoming council.
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Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Rep aims for full council role
Pania Coote Not being able to vote when it mattered most has prompted an Invercargill mana whenua representative to stand for council. Pania Coote has represented Te Rūnanga o Awarua at Invercargill City Council since 2021, when two mana whenua roles were introduced. The appointees were given voting rights at committee level, but not full council. Ms Coote said she had gained an in-depth knowledge about council operations, but the voting restriction had shown the "limits of symbolic inclusion". "Literally I could participate on the subcommittees and contribute greatly, but when it came to the final decision at the council table, unfortunately I didn't have the vote. "Representation must be more than just a presence and must have influence, so that's why I'm standing for council." Ms Coote said her commitment was driven by responsible leadership, efficient governance and tangible progress on issues which mattered most to the community. Council needed to be driven by energy, vision and practical-type leadership, she said. Voters do not select mana whenua representatives at local body elections; rather they are put forward by their respective rūnanga. In response to questions, council manager governance and legal Michael Morris explained the Local Government Act meant only elected members could vote at full council. Including mana whenua roles on committees was a decision made at the start of each term by way of a vote, he said. "This is usually put to council at the inaugural meeting, so I'd expect this to happen at the beginning of November after the October election." How much the representatives were paid was also determined by the incoming council.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Mayoral candidate keen for big changes
Wide-ranging changes — from slashing council salaries to creating a mayoral forum of "intelligent people" — are proposed by the man challenging to be mayor in Central Otago. Roxburgh resident Mark Quinn, who is travelling New Zealand in his role as the founder of Challenging Councils New Zealand (a grassroots movement focused on holding local councils accountable), has joined the mayoral contest and wants to take the region back to the future by taking councils back to borough councils. Mr Quinn said he would be back at his home in Roxburgh early next month to campaign for the mayoralty and a council seat in the Teviot Valley ward. In 2016 he bought land for an almond orchard and had been slowly developing that, although for the past three years he had been travelling New Zealand promoting the Challenging Councils message, he said. He is standing as he is concerned his children and more particularly, his grandchildren, will never have the chance to own a house. "I know a lot and I just think that we need to stand up and do what granddad did for us. "We need to protect our grandchildren and I don't see the current system protecting my grandchildren in any way, shape or form." His two biggest bugbears were the Central Otago District Council, which was absorbing the rates take in-house through wages and expenses, and Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ). "The council was designed by great-granddad and granddad and dad and they set up a core structure for us to live under in a healthy way, and the people all ran the council and did the work and everything else. "Now we're finding that these people no longer have a job and they're bringing contractors in from outside and their charges are excessive." Nine councils in New Zealand, including Auckland and Christchurch, had already left LGNZ, and that should be a trend, Mr Quinn said. "I don't see that local government, which is designed by Parliament, is actually here for the people." He said there was nothing wrong with the borough council system and "we were a bit happy-go-lucky" with the 1989 reform of local government that reduced councils from 120 to 78 around the country. Mr Quinn said New Zealanders were naive and complacent at that time and as a result, central government has over time "slowly chipped away at things", first with the introduction of the LGA (Local Government Act) in 2002, then the LGFA (Local Government Borrowing Act) in 2011. Since then, councils have been able to borrow freely, and now "we're at a tipping point," Mr Quinn said. He said councils needed to return to core responsibilities and step back from funding areas never intended for local or central government. Mr Quinn said he was not aware of anyone dying from drinking water, apart from through human error like not cleaning out filters, as in Hawke's Bay and Tauranga, but sewers were in dire straits and subdivisions were being built without the comparable increase in sewer capacity. Mr Quinn was planning to create a "brains trust" around this if he became mayor. He had 40 years in business behind him, having designed the first Countdown and Pak'nSave supermarkets, as well as being Ron Brierley's "hatchet man" in the 1980s. "Being a mayor is one thing, but sitting down with some intelligent people outside of the council and having a cross-section look at it is imperative." That group would analyse and prioritise things, take them back to the public, then to the council and tell them what they were going to do, Mr Quinn said. The rest of the elected councillors would not fit that bill, he said. "There must be some [intelligent people] . . . I just don't know who they are yet. There are others coming on board that have got that intelligence, so we need to form a good crew. "I'm certainly not going to write anyone off until I sit in front of them. But the question is, what on earth have they achieved in the last 20 years other than debt and natural resources not being updated?" Mr Quinn said the council was a service centre not a corporate entity, yet it paid corporate wages. He stated that lowering wages would not be an impediment to attracting staff, and that those who had wages cut would not be a loss if they left, as that would demonstrate they were there for the wages and not to serve the people.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
‘Keep our Māori wards' campaign kicks off with security caution
Dinnie Moeahu says supporters of Maori wards need to know their stuff to counter deliberate misinformation. Photo: Te Korimako o Taranaki via LDR A bid to retain Māori representation at Taranaki council tables kicked off on the weekend with a call for whānau-level pushback against what campaigners say is deliberate disinformation. Speakers at Saturday's organising meeting also warned referendums on Māori wards across New Zealand would spark vitriol - and potentially worse. New Plymouth councillor Dinnie Moeahu called the hui, saying misinformation was causing misunderstanding and fear, while disinformation was dividing communities. He represents New Plymouth's five-councillor 'at-large' ward, having topped the poll with general roll voters in 2022. Likewise, he said, anyone could stand in a Māori ward to be elected by Māori roll voters. "Non-Māori can also stand in the Māori ward seat. Ōrite: it's the same." Moeahu said opponents were incorrectly labelling Māori council seats as 'race-based'. Māori wards were Treaty-based, he said: created to ensure effective representation and help meet Crown obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as spelled out in the Local Government Act. Almost all Māori wards and constituencies face being extinguished via referendum at October's local elections, including those at Taranaki's four councils. The government changed the law a year ago, requiring binding polls on local Māori seats to fulfil National's coalition deals with ACT and New Zealand First. They said the change was to restore democracy to communities on a significant change to local democracy. Moeahu said anti-Māori groups were ready with a campaign labelling the wards race-based as soon as the government reintroduced referendums last July. "It was well-resourced, it was strategised superbly and executed with perfection - and less than 24 hours after the law received Royal Assent." Former New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd copped abuse when he backed Māori wards a decade ago - and he warns more is coming. Photo: Te Korimako o Taranaki via LDR Andrew Judd won New Plymouth's mayoralty in 2013, standing down at the next election after his unyielding support for a Māori ward drew persistent, often public abuse - including of his children. Judd said he predicted more of the same from opponents of guaranteed Māori representation. "My intel is that they are well geared-up, and they are going to be ... destructive," Judd said. "Because their hatred is real - and we cannot let hate win." Te Waka McLeod has agreed Moeahu will accompany her to meetings for fear of confrontation during election season. Photo: Te Korimako o Taranaki via LDR Moeahu said the escalating risk of physical threat prompted him and councillor Te Waka McLeod to agree he would accompany her to public meetings till the election ends. McLeod is the first councillor for NPDC's new Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa ward. Despite attracting online and in-person abuse, McLeod said she had been supported by fellow councillors and staff, and the council was building stronger relationships with hapū. She said supporters from all communities must help family members better understand Māori wards with accurate information. "It's having those conversations with your nana, with your grandma, with your uncle at your whānau kitchen table," she said. "They may be sitting on the fence and they just need to hear a little bit of truth." The meeting drew people keen to join the fight to keep Māori wards. Photo: Te Korimako o Taranaki via LDR Other speakers included Labour MP Glen Bennett and NPDC councillors Amanda Clinton-Gohdes and Sam Bennett, who is running for mayor. Moeahu plans more meetings to galvanise helpers ahead of a public event when voting gets underway. Referendums must be held by 37 district and five regional councils. No other type of ward can be voted down. At the meeting, Margy-Jean Malcolm told LDR it was crucial to have clear information. "This is actually institutional racism, when we treat Māori wards differently from say a rural ward or any other ward. "We don't give the entire population a vote as to whether those wards should exist or not." Lance Mepham had seen candidates pushing misinformation. "I went to a few meetings here recently, and I was really surprised at the rhetoric and just some of the nasty things that were being said about the Māori ward." He said Māori brought good things to the table for everybody. "Economic and also cultural contributions - there's just so much that Māori can give and offer this community." EJ Barrett said the wards had already boosted Māori participation in local democracy by 22 percent. "My children are Māori so I have a vested interest to make sure there's always going to be a space for them in representative democracy - and so they can see themselves in democracy." "It's just the right thing to do, mate." LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
