Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer says he understands why the Maori Statutory Board feels like it’s being treated like a political football, but the blame lies largely within the enabling legislation which lacks proper definition around the council’s funding of the board.

“The legislation says the ‘Auckland Council must meet the reasonable costs’ of the board but what exactly is reasonable? That is what the High Court must now decide,” says Cameron Brewer.

“Last week I went out on behalf of the ratepayer and argued that I didn’t think $3.4 million per annum was reasonable value to run a nine-person committee. The council has since got it down to $1.9m but the board doesn’t think that’s reasonable for it do its job. The board is now exercising its absolute right to take the matter to the High Court for a ruling.

“While Auckland councillors may not agree with the legislation, we are all committed to making this work and playing the hand we’ve been dealt with. It’s unfortunate that the legislation has made the board’s funding almost impossible to define.

“The High Court has got a tough job defining what is ‘reasonable’ funding. It’s very subjective and hence why we’ve run into these problems from the outset.

“All of us councillors around the table want a strong and positive relationship with Maori. Unfortunately we’ve all been let down by some poorly defined legislation. That is solely where the break-down has occurred.”

Cameron Brewer says he voted against the council’s $1.9m funding amount yesterday simply because in his view it was beyond the scope of reasonable.

ENDS

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