Learning about our Local Leadership Body

A symposium on co-governance was held on Tuesday (19 September) to mark the development of the Local Leadership Body (LLB) between Gisborne District Council and Turanga iwi.

Guest speakers from the Rangitaiki River Forum, Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee and the co-governance of the Waikato River, spoke to a public hui of iwi representatives and interested whanau, councillors and council staff on approaches to relationships and decision making between council’s and iwi.

Chairman of Te Aitanga a Mahaki Trust, Pene Brown said it was an opportunity to hear from those who had been through the process before Turanga iwi and GDC embarked on their own co-governance pathway.

“The LLB opens the way for both parties to develop a new and enduring relationship.”

Mayor Meng Foon also acknowledged the importance of nurturing relationships with iwi and enabling a local solution for the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.

Council and Turanga iwi have been working to establish the LLB to begin operating later this year,

Mayor Foon says the LLB is not a committee of Council, it was set up by the Government as a statutory board through the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Act, to ensure that we work together on issues that are important to Turanga as a whole.

The LLB will be made up of equal council and iwi representatives – two each from Ngai Tamanuhiri, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga a Mahaki, along with the Mayor and five councillors – enabling Council and iwi to work together at a governance level to develop policies and strategies to address significant issues, and co-ordinate the management of the natural and physical resources within the rohe the iwi oversee.

Mayor Meng Foon says the LLB is providing for the traditional relationship of iwi with their ancestral lands, water, sites, wahi tapu and other taonga.

“It will enable social, economic and cultural wellbeing and achieve improved environmental outcomes for communities within the LLB area.”

Waikato Regional Council Deputy Chair Tipa Mahuta and Marae Tukere, co-chair of the Wai Ora Healthy Rivers Co-Governance committee, spoke of their experience in co-governance of the Waikato River.

Tipa conveyed the importance of recognising the committee was more than collaboration and consultation, but a vehicle to co-create.

“What was good for iwi was also aligned with was what good for the community. There’s an opportunity to transform our communities for the better with co-governance.”

Chairman of the Local Government Commission Sir Wira Gardiner congratulated Turanga iwi and Council to get to this point saying local government and iwi leadership is vital to transformation and socialisation of change in their communities.

The recorded symposium event is available to view on

Council’s website.

ENDS

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