Media Release                                                     September 10,  2009

Iwi Chair Says Auckland Super City Boundary Changes an Ill-Considered Carve-Up

Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua chair Naida Glavish says the government Select Committee suggestion to split Rodney District north of Waiwera to create the new Auckland Super City is a sloppy cut and paste exercise.

She says it reminds her of the mess created in the Middle East when colonial planners divided up countries with rulers on a map ignoring natural boundaries and cultural groupings that has since led to the turmoil and territorial disputes we see today.

“Ngati Whatua has long had a clear rohe, a territory with natural boundaries running from Tamaki River in the south to Maunganui Buff and Whangarei in the North.  We are manawhenua of this region and have an intimate knowledge of its natural resources, but we continue to have to deal with hybrid government entities crisis-crossing everywhere,” she says.

Naida Glavish says it would be far more forward thinking to consider the Ngati Whatua rohe as a region, and take a holistic approach to setting boundaries and the management of resources, people and infrastructure rather than basing boundaries on a narrow economic model relating to population; divvying up built infrastructure like pieces of cake.

“ Recognising our rohe and partnering us in partnership to manage resources would be a smart option. We have time-honoured models for resource management that if utilised would see a far more cohesive and sensible approach.”

She says the Kaipara Harbour is a classic example of the inefficiencies of local government boundaries that will be worsened by the new Super City boundary that will not only divide the harbour in two but also split off two marae from Ngati Whatua Nga Rima o Kaipara.

“You would think it would be a simple thing to understand that the harbour and its tributaries are one entity, a connected catchment and should be treated as such. It was never rocket science for Ngati Whatua to consider this resource and taonga this way. But now, it continues to be badly managed by the conflicting agendas of a myriad of different councils and government departments.”

Naida Glavish says Ngati Whatua as manawhenua will continue to maintain its age-old boundaries.

ends

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