Iwi reps accuse council of breaching agreement

The two iwi appointed representatives are accusing  Wellington City Councillors of breaching the agreement that allows for iwi to have representation at committee level.

In an email to Councillors, the iwi representative for Taranaki iwi, Holden Hohaia, accuses councillors of having “excluded manawhenua from having their voices heard at the committee table” and that “… on the face of it, represents a breach of the Tākai Here Agreement.”

It didn’t take them long to play the “breach” of agreement card. It’s only the two nominated representatives making these claims. That is Holden Hohaia and Liz Kelly.

See Holden’s full email below:

It’s difficult to understand exactly what Holden is saying. “It is about the intent of the signatories to the [Notice of Motion] to knowingly and deliberately exclude voices of manawhenua. And this, all the while knowing that as Councillors, you will always have the final say at full Council.”

So on the one hand, Holden accuses the council of excluding the voices of iwi while admitting that the Council “will always have the final say”.

For a fuller picture of how this farcical state of affairs evolved, our article here gives the details. We’re pretty sure Holden is talking through his … derriere!

But that hasn’t stopped Councillor Sarah Free from falling for the bluff. She doesn’t want to be remembered for “causing the breakdown” of the agreement, which she thinks “is a very real risk at the moment.”

Not only that, she’s still shilling the debunked claim that it will cause “an inevitable downgrade in Councils (sic) credit rating” if the Airport sale doesn’t go through.

Sarah wants to find a way through this. Her response is to bow down to Holden’s threats and withdraw the notice of motion, so the council “can then look at a range of options in a calmer and more collaborative way, including full sale, partial sale or no sale, with a range of cost saving measures to ensure  our budget still works as needed.” This woman wouldn’t know if she’s Arthur or Martha or some other variant.

Councillor Sarah Free believes the notice of motion calling for full council to have the final vote on the airport sale is “a potentially very damaging course of action some are on, completely at odds with Treaty of Waitangi principles…”

We also have it on good authority that the chairs of the three iwi partners (Ngāti Toa Rangitira; Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa, and Taranaki Whānui) have not raised the issue with council.

Oh, and Wellington ratepayers, you should understand that these appointed reps are on the same pay as the elected city councillors.