Joint management plan in the spotlight

Taupō District Council and Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board have prepared a new working agreement to manage environmental protection of Lake Taupō and the upper Waikato River. Some are in favour while others raise concerns about the timing and scope of the agreement.

Chris Marshall reports

Whether concerns were assuaged or attitudes more entrenched might be a moot point after a July 3 workshop on the joint management agreement (JMA) between Taupō District Council and Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board.

Workshop chair Taupō Mayor David Trewavas hoped it would “clear up a few misconceptions.”

At the workshop, council co-governance management partner Sue Mavor, described a JMA as “a legal agreement between a council and an iwi authority about jointly managing a natural resource.”

The JMA will see both organisations collaborate on work such as monitoring and enforcement, district plan reviews, resource consent application assessments, and enabling customary activities. These are all mandatory matters under the legislation.

The council has a voluntary agreement with TMTB signed in 2009 and mandatory ones with Raukawa Settlement Trust (2013), and Te Arawa River Iwi Trust (2017).

The 2009 JMA allows the two parties to work together on matters affecting multiply owned Māori land, Mavor says, allowing for joint RMA decision-making but covering a relatively discrete area.
“Together, they make decisions on those applications and plan changes.”
The agreement now in negotiation is mandatory under the Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Raukawa, and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Act 2010 (Upper Waikato River Act 2010).

It continues the work of various initiatives to protect Lake Taupō and the Upper Waikato River and fulfils a requirement under the Local Government Act to provide opportunities for Māori to contribute to the decision-making process.
The vision of the JMA is that: “Taupō Moana and the Upper Waikato River are thriving and healthy, sustaining abundant life and prosperous communities who in turn are responsible for restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of those water bodies, encompassing cultural, environmental, social, economic, and spiritual factors for future generations.”

While not concerned with the JMA’s purpose, councillors Christine Rankin, Sandra Greenslade and Rachel Shepherd voiced concerns about seeking to sign it before the October election; Rankin says the damage to the relationship with the TMTB would be “immense” if a new council decides to undo the agreement.

Councillor John Williamson disagreed saying history proved “governing by anticipation” didn’t work.

Rankin’s also questioned the implications if central government revised the RMA earlier than expected.

The council’s policy manager Nick Carroll says any agreement had to reflect the legislation in place.

“If that legislation changes fast, then we'll have to review fast.”

Greenslade questioned the effects of fast-track legislation, to which Carroll replied that the agreement simply means the council will talk with TMTB.
“We might work together in terms of any submission… but it certainly doesn't commit council to doing so and it doesn't commit council to having the same view as the trust board on a fast-track proposal.”

Cr Duncan Campbell aired on social media prior to the meeting that the “new” version of the JMA was “being pushed forward with minimal public engagement and limited debate” and had written to lobby group Hobson’s Pledge, to seek what he called “independent” scrutiny of the draft JMA and the need for public consultation.

Deputy mayor Kevin Taylor says he is not averse to public consultation, but it must be meaningful.
“Most of the folk who are sitting here today would find themselves insulted if we were to go out and consult on matters over which we had no discretion.”

He says they can ask for opinions but can't take it into account because the legislation dictates what they must do.

“That is not proper consultation. That is patronising, and I’m opposed to doing that.”

Taylor says he will meet with anybody to answer questions related to the JMA.
“You can either present them in writing beforehand, or I'm happy to answer them on the fly... What I don't want is for people to go away with an assumption and opinion that's not based in fact, that doesn't reflect the reality of the situation we're in, and that you have a considered view of the matters that we are going to review at the council meeting at the end of July.”

Trewavas asked council staff to investigate what consultation might be possible.

Councillor Karam Fletcher says the TMTB had been around for nearly 100 years, was an entity concerned about looking after “a lake that we all love and enjoy” and neither it nor the council, “regardless of the noise coming out of central government”, were going anywhere.

Talk of shared values around spirituality, might be a little bit confronting to some people, he said – responding to a claim from Campbell that the use of language like ‘mana’, ‘rangatiratanga’ and ‘kaitiakitanga’ once inscribed in documents, shaped what came to the council table.

“In its simplest form, whenever you've had a hard day at work, and you have the opportunity to bathe in Taupō Moana, that is spirituality. That is finding reconciliation or restitution.”

Running alongside the lake, looking at its beauty, was spiritual sustenance, he said.
“So, it's not too out there for us to understand its spiritual importance with what we're trying to create with this joint management agreement.”

He says the JMA is a stepping stone to how the relationship between the two organisations could evolve.
The draft JMA is being presented for further discussion at a council meeting on July 31 with one of the options being a decision to sign it.

In a media release following the workshop the TMTB said work on the draft Joint Management Agreement (JMA) – wasn’t new.

It came from the 2010 Act and reflects the iwi’s legal role as owners of the Taupō lakebed. 

The agreement – a tool to make sure “the voice of Ngāti Tūwharetoa was present in decisions about our moana, our awa and our whenua” had been years in the making, the statement says, noting that the Trust Board was proud of the integrity shown by those who had supported the kaupapa from the start, including councillors and staff.

“This work has taken time, and that’s allowed space for honest kōrero, shared learning, and for both sides to come to the table in good faith,” says Trust Board chair John Bishara.

“That’s what real partnership looks like.”

A council media statement says the new draft agreement builds on 20 years of successful collaboration through the Lake Taupō Protection Project, which had resulted in reduced nitrogen levels entering the waterways.

‘The draft agreement establishes a shared vision: thriving, healthy waterways that sustain abundant life and prosperous communities,” the release said.

“Crucially, it recognises that these same communities have a responsibility to protect and restore the wellbeing of Taupō Moana and the Upper Waikato River for generations to come.