Plan-making

Wai 153: Te Arawa Geothermal Resources 

“As a consequence, it is virtually certain that a regional geothermal plan, such as that proposed to be publicly notified on or about 1 July 1993 by the Bay of Plenty regional council in respect of the Rotorua geothermal field, will fail adequately to protect Maori Treaty rights in their geothermal taonga. Such failure on the part of the Crown is inconsistent with its Treaty duty to protect the claimants’ interest in their taonga. As a consequence, claimants are likely to be prejudicially affected by such breach of duty.”

Wai 898: Te Mana Whatu Ahuru – Report on Te Rohe Pōtae Claims Part IV

“In addition to references to Treaty principles and terms such as kaitiakitanga and wāhi tapu, the RMA provides specific mechanisms for iwi and hapū influence, and in some cases partnership or delegated control. However, although many iwi management plans have been developed, in the flora and fauna inquiry the Tribunal identified serious concerns within Māoridom about the effectiveness of these plans in practice. Moreover, while partnership over the control of taonga is provided for in theory, in practice it has only been attempted in the form of highly specialised Treaty settlements, as with the Waikato River settlement accord, and the Te Arawa (Rotorua) and Taupō lakes agreements.”

Wai 2358: The Stage 2 Report on the National Freshwater and Geothermal Claims

“After examining the evidence and submissions, we found that these participation mechanisms were flawed and had not delivered results that were consistent with either the intention behind some of them (sections 33 and 36B) or the principles of the Treaty. Our findings on flaws in the particular RMA mechanisms were as follows: [including]

• Iwi management plans have not been accorded their due weight in RMA planning. The Crown has turned down repeated calls for the enhancement of their legal weight.

“[W}e found that the participatory arrangements of the RMA are not consistent with the principle of partnership and the Treaty guarantee of tino rangatiratanga. Māori have been significantly prejudiced because they have been unable to exercise kaitiakitanga effectively in respect of their freshwater taonga, and their rights and interests have been excluded or considered ineffectively in freshwater decision-making.”

“We also noted that none of the recommendations of the Wai 262 Tribunal in respect of section 33, section 36B, and iwi management plans have been carried out since that report was issued in 2011.”

“We recommend a number of paths and mechanisms for co-governance and co-management which, severally or in combinations, will enable iwi and hapū to arrive at the most appropriate arrangement for their particular rohe and for each of their water bodies: [including]

The RMA provisions for iwi management plans should be amended to provide that, in the case of water bodies where co-governance and co-management has not been arranged, the iwi and hapū management plans filed by kaitiaki will have greater legal weight in the process of developing or amending regional plans and in consenting processes."

Wai 1130: Te Kāhui Maunga – The National Park District Inquiry Report

“Our recommendations recognise the very particular character of our inquiry district, the importance of the waters for the nga iwi o te kāhui maunga, the impacts of the TPD on these waters, and the opportunities and limitations of the RMA.”

“In the National Park inquiry context, we make three recommendations which, taken together, will increase opportunity for ngā iwi o te kāhui maunga to exercise their kaitiakitanga over their waters. They include local action and national action and sit within the present resource management framework. Those recommendations are that:

The Crown provides funding for the preparation of an iwi management plan for the waters of te kāhui maunga (section 61(2A)(a) of the RMA). This funding should be ongoing and take into account capacity building and monitoring needs”

Wai 262: Ko Aotearoa Tēnei

“Accordingly, we recommend that the RMA regime be reformed, so that those who have power under the Act are compelled to engage with kaitiaki in order to deliver control, partnership, and influence where each of these is justified, specifically:

Enhanced iwi management plans: We recommend that the RMA be amended to provide for the development of enhanced iwi resource management plans; that these plans be developed by iwi in consultation with local authorities; that these plans identify iwi resource management priorities and opportunities for delegation of control to kaitiaki or establishment of partnerships; and that these plans be confirmed during a joint statutory negotiation process between iwi and local authority representatives, during which there may be compromise. We recommend that, once adopted, these plans have the same status under the RMA as any district or regional plan or policy statement as the case may be.”

Wai 215: Tauranga Moana 1886–2006 – Report on the Post-Raupatu Claims Volume 2

“Iwi management plans can also now be a powerful tool, but neither central nor local government has properly resourced such plans, and (at least initially), they had very little statutory weight.”

“Instead of being involved in decision making and engaging in the preparation of plans, Tauranga Māori have expended considerable effort on fighting resource consents. This is a costly and ineffective way to try and shape planning processes, and as a result many Tauranga Māori have become extremely frustrated. The capacity of Tauranga Māori to participate in environmental management as kaitiaki is badly compromised by a lack of resources. Further, their largely unsuccessful battles show that the values of Tauranga Māori, particularly those of a spiritual nature, are not well understood by the general public or local authorities, and are often given little weight in their planning processes.”