Tuwhenuaroa
Natanahira Māori news journalist
Auckland’s
mayor has hit out at a New Zealand First campaign promise to
scrap the city’s Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB),
shrugging it off as “dumb, racist stuff”.
The party
has penned and introduced a bill seeking to disestablish
the board, stating that the unelected council body
“exercised significant influence” over council decision
making and set up a “a parallel governance system”.
In
a statement to RNZ, Wayne Brown said he did not know why the
government was “picking a fight”.
“It’s just dumb,
racist stuff we don’t need at a time when people are
struggling to put food on the table and pay bills. What’s
the problem they’re trying to solve?”
The IMSB was
established in 2010 alongside the creation of the Auckland
Super City and was set up to make decisions to promote
economic, cultural, environmental and social issues that are
significant to Māori in the living in the city, as well as
making sure Auckland Council meets its obligation to Te
Tiriti o Waitangi.
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It
is independent of the council and has nine members elected
by a selection group made of mana whenua representatives. It
can appoint up to two members to Auckland Council committees
making decisions on management and stewardship of natural
and physical resources.
Members appointed by the board
have voting rights on those committees.
Brown said the
council had “several committees and advisory forums that
enable robust discussions and the sharing of a range of
views”.
“I would’ve thought this contributes rather
than takes away from our democracy.”
“My suggestion to
Wellington is butt out of our business. Auckland is quite
capable of making decisions that work best for us,” Brown
said.
The
Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is welcoming the members bill,
with spokesperson Josh Van Veen saying the board wields
“considerable power”.
“We have previously called for
the government to strip the IMSB of voting rights on council
committees. But the time has come to get rid of the IMSB
altogether.
“Auckland Council should be governed by
representatives who are elected by, and accountable to,
Aucklanders. There is no place in local government for a
body with special statutory privileges that ratepayers have
no ability to vote for or remove.”
Van Veen said local
democracy works best when governors are directly answerable
to the public.
“The Independent Māori Statutory Board
was established as a temporary political compromise during
the formation of the Auckland Super City. More than 15 years
later, it has become an entrenched layer of bureaucracy that
undermines democratic accountability,” he said.
RNZ
understands the IMSB is meeting to discuss the proposed
bill.
RNZ has reached out to the IMSB for
comment.
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