Media Release Monday 23 May 2007

Public forums for Te Tiriti o Waitangi Committee

Te Tiriti o Waitangi Committee o Te Kaunihera o Manukau will become the first standing committee of Manukau City Council to allow an open public forum at its monthly meetings.

A meeting of the committee last week (Wednesday 18 July 2007) agreed that the unique makeup of the committee meant it was appropriate to create an opportunity where members of the public could bring their issues to the committee in a public forum format.

The public forum will be for a period of 30 minutes and will be trialled over a two month period for the committee’s August and September meetings.

Manukau City Council Chief Advisor Phil Wilson, whose responsibilities include the council’s Treaty of Waitangi Unit, says traditionally the council has seen a public forum as an appropriate mechanism for representative council structures, such as community boards, rather than the governance structures of full council and its standing committees.

However, he says, the council’s Ti Tiriti o Waitangi standing committee was unique in that it had a strong representational element because its membership included - in addition to elected members of the city council - people appointed to the committee to represent mana whenua, and elected from the Maori community at large by taura here.

“The committee considers that some people who want to raise issues with Ti Tiriti o Waitangi Committee might be intimidated by the formal processes of delegation and submission that normally allow for public input into full council or its standing committees,” Mr Wilson says. “People can be more comfortable with the more informal and open approach used in marae settings. By creating a similar opportunity as part of Ti Tiriti O Waitangi Committee meetings, it is hoped more people will bring issues affecting Maori in Manukau to the committee for discussion.”

The committee agreed that the public forum would be conducted in much the same way as they already are at the council’s community board meetings, where the meeting is adjourned for a period to allow informal presentations from the public.

ENDS

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