Part of their argument was “that
the Council…failed to consider or give any weight to the principles of Te
Tiriti o Waitangi…and the Council’s decisions were not in accordance with
tikanga.”
Those arguments failed to impress the judge. He ruled a special consultative process did not apply to a council decision to retain or disestablish the Maori ward, but he found the council “did decide to engage with Kaipara iwi to give them an opportunity to make their views known to Council before the decision was made“, even though it was not required to do so.
The Judge pointed out that Maori
interests were represented at the very highest level of the council decision-making
through the council’s Maori Ward councillor, Cr Paniora who played an active
role in the meeting at which the decision was made. Cr Paniora works for Te Runanga
O NgatiI Whatua as a “Resources Manager” so to say they had no opportunity to
express their views is laughable.
The court also pointed to the
process the KDC adopted when it created the Maori ward in October 2020. Not
only did it not consult the community at the time, it ignored a valid petition
from 8.8% of registered voters to hold a referendum on the issue.
It is fair to say the case
against the KDC failed miserably. It’s a
decisive win for the Council and its processes but comes at a cost to
ratepayers. Defending claims in the High Court, even frivolous claims, comes at
a significant cost which is likely to be in excess of $100,000. That’s money
that should go into fixing roads, not wasted on legal claims of little merit.
On the matter of cost recovery,
the judge left the door open saying, “If any issue as to costs arises, the
parties may file and serve brief memoranda”.
The Council should claim costs,
and seek full recovery of costs. That would send a message to groups like Te Runanga
O NgatiI Whatua that the Council will have zero tolerance for groups to use the
courts to aggressively pursue what some may consider to be a politically
motivated action.
And it’s not as if Te Runanga O NgatiI
Whatua does not have the means to pay the council’s legal costs. In the year
ended 30 June 2022, it received revenue of $84 million (including $65 million
in government contracts and $10 million in rental and royalties) and had an
operating surplus of $17 million. Its total assets were $68 million.
Te Runanga O NgatiI Whatua says
its role is, “to advocate for our iwi, champion social and cultural
initiatives, and carefully manage the assets…to ensure a thriving future for our
people.” It’s time Te Runanga O NgatiI Whatua looked beyond “their people”
and acted in a manner that ensured a thriving future for our district.