Kaipara mayor Craig Jepson defends iwi agreement terminations amid criticism

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson. Photo / Michael Craig
Susan Botting, Local Democracy reporter
Kaipara District Council has terminated its formal relationship agreements with local iwi in a move described as devastating by Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust chair Reno Skipper.
The council last week canned its agreements with the settlement trust and Te Iwi o Te Roroa – one of which had been in place for more than 20 years – in what is effectively an at least temporary divorce between the council and the two entities.
Kaipara District Council (KDC)’s memorandum of understanding with Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust and mana enhancing agreement with Te Iwi o Te Roroa were in place as part of the entities’ Waitangi Treaty settlements.
“It seems strange when there is a memorandum of understanding between two parties and only one party is making a decision about that memorandum,” Skipper said.
“We had always held out hope.”
Skipper said the settlement trust was expected to discuss the termination at its annual meeting at Ripia Marae in Te Kopuru at the weekend.
A spokesperson said Te Iwi o Te Roroa did not wish to comment on the council decision “at this time” when approached by Local Democracy Reporting Northland.
KDC Mayor Craig Jepson led the charge to terminate the agreements and end associated bulk funding for iwi council-related work.
He said the terminations were about making sure the waters would not be muddied ahead of the council setting up replacement relationship agreements.
“I look forward to working together to form and complete and ratify new agreements that will be supported by all parties,” Jepson said.
“We have a great opportunity here to clarify a whole bunch of issues I see in those existing agreements, and we need to get on with it and do that in good faith.”
Costs for iwi council-related work would now be submitted to KDC on an ad hoc basis, Jepson said.
The decision comes in spite of politicians knowing the mahi iwi do for KDC will most likely cost the council more under new arrangements.
KDC decided in a narrow one-person majority vote on Wednesday to terminate the agreements, after an hour of deadlocked voting on alternatives, as the council’s 10 politicians split into two opposing quintets.
This was eventually broken only when Mangawhai’s Cr Mike Howard changed tack at the eleventh hour in favour of the move after initially supporting opponents’ proposed alternatives.
No meeting decision was made on when new agreements would be in place, but Howard said urgency was required.
Councillors against the termination warned of loss of good faith, further amplifying mistrust and intensifying community polarisation, as well as unnecessary extra council costs as a result of the termination decision.
Jepson, deputy mayor Jonathan Larsen and councillors Gordon Lambeth, Ron Manderson and Rachael Williams voted to terminate the existing arrangements – and retrospectively, council’s bulk funding for the involvement by both iwi in crucial KDC roles. This has not been paid to the iwi since July 1, the start of the current council financial year, in spite of the formal decision to stop the payments being made on September 24.
Councillors Howard, Ash Nayyar, Pera Paniora, Mark Vincent and Eryn Wilson-Collins voted against the termination. Between them they unsuccessfully fought for KDC to instead keep the status quo arrangements and associated bulk funding. They also alternately pushed for existing formal agreements to stay rather than be terminated, while the review of these was carried out.
Wilson-Collins warned the meeting decision was being made in spite of a predominance of negative rather than positive supporting evidence provided to councillors ahead of the decision meeting.
“This doesn’t look good to our community, it doesn’t look good to our Māori community because we are effectively ignoring the advice and information that has been provided to us to be able to make a decision,” Wilson-Collins said.
She said the decision came with significant risk factors. It was happening against the backdrop of Te Runanga o Ngāti Whātua’s High Court challenge to the council’s August 7 Māori ward abolition decision.
Paniora warned that should the council make the iwi relationship agreement decision it in the end chose, it would be breaching section 82 of the Local Government Act around consultation.
Jepson said the meeting’s decision came after consultation with both entities.
However, Wilson-Collins said “Just because you say something, doesn’t make it true”.
Skipper said there had been no consultation, neither had Te Uri o Hau been invited to Wednesday’s decision meeting.
Nayyar said terminating existing arrangements was based on ideology, rather than what was best for the district.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air