Minutes of Maori Committee - 3 December 2013

1. WELCOME/APOLOGIES/NOTICES

KARAKIA – P PRENTICE/H HILTON

Councillor Graham welcomed all present to the first Māori Committee of the new triennium and gave an explanation of the format for the meeting. This would result in agenda items being considered out of order.

Apologies were received from Messrs Apatu, Maaka, Wilson, Barker, Ide and Mrs Lambert and Mrs Kemp-Harmer.

MC23/13

Graham/Prentice

CARRIED

Councillor Graham then advised that the Committee would proceed to Agenda Items 6 and 7.

Appointment of Tangata Whenua Representatives to the Maori Committee

MC24/13

Resolutions:

The Maori Committee recommends Council confirms:

1. Fred McRoberts, Shaun Haraki and Adrian Manuel representing the Wairoa area; Piri Prentice, Joinella Maihi-Carroll and Beverley Kemp-Harmer representing the Ahuriri area; Haami Hilton, Michael Paku and Marei Apatu, representing the Heretaunga area; Roger Maaka, Mike Mohi and Brian Gregory, representing the Tamatea area, be appointed as members of the Māori Committee of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

2. Bill Blake (Wairoa), Rangi Puna (Ahuriri) and Marge Hape (Tamatea) be nominated as short term replacement members of the Committee.

Graham/Pipe

CARRIED

(Note: Only Councillors Graham, Pipe and Belford were able to vote on this recommendation)

Election of Chairman of the Maori Committee

Councillor Graham advised that following discussion at the earlier meeting, a request had been made for the Committee to consider the nomination for a Deputy Chairperson.

MC25/13

Resolutions:

The Maori Committee recommends Council confirms:

1. The appointment of Mr Mohi as Chairman of the Māori Committee.

Prentice/Haraki

CARRIED

2. The appointment of Mr Haraki as Deputy Chairman

Prentice/Paku

CARRIED

Councillor Graham then vacated the Chair and Mr Mohi continued in the role of Chairman.

Following a suggestion from Councillor Graham, Chairman Mohi requested that all Committee members introduce themselves.

2. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

Membership of Council Committees by Tangata Whenua Nominated Members of the Maori Committee

MC26/13

Resolutions:

That the Maori Committee recommends Council confirms:

1. Mrs Joinella Maihi-Carroll and Mr Brian Gregory be appointed members of the Environmental and Services Committee.

2. Mr Piri Prentice and Mr Shane Haraki be appointed members of the Corporate and Strategic Committee.

3. Mr Brian Gregory.be appointed as a member of the Regional Transport Committee.

Mohi/Haraki

CARRIED

Short Term Replacements

MC27/13

Resolution:

That the Maori Committee agree:

That Mr Bill Blake and Mrs Marge Hape be appointed as members of the Maori Committee of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for the meeting of Tuesday, 3 December 2013 as short term replacements on the Committee for Mr Marei Apatu and Dr Roger Maaka.

Follow Ups from Previous Maori Committee Meetings

Mr Mohi advised that Ngati Kahungunu Iwi had not responded, however, a response was expected in the near future on the Fisheries Strategic Plan.

MC28/13

Resolution:

1. That the Maori Committee receives the report “Follow ups Items from Previous Maori Committee Meetings”.

Paku/Gregory

CARRIED

Call for any Minor Items Not on the Agenda

That Maori Committee accepts the following minor items not on the agenda, for discussion as item 16

1. Māori Land in the vicinity of the Proposed Water Storage Dam (Mr Haraki)

2. Amalgamation (Mr Haraki)

3. Mangaroa Marae – Hui (Chairman Mohi)

Update on Current Issues by the Interim Chief Executive

In the absence of Chairman Wilson and Mrs Lambert, Mr Adye provided the update on current issues.

Minutes of Māori Committee Meeting 27 August 2014

In response to a question from Councillor Graham, Mr Adye advised that notwithstanding Clause 36.2 of Council’s Standing Orders, that the Minutes of Māori Committee held on Tuesday, 27 August 2013 had been received, reviewed, and signed by the Chairman of the Committee as a true and correct record.

Amalgamation

Submissions will close on 7 March and will be processed by Local Government NZ and there may be an opportunity for submitters to speak to LGNZ. This process will be followed by a referendum undertaken throughout the region and if the vote is in favour of amalgamation a transitional board and CE would be put in place. However, if the vote was against amalgamation, the status quo would remain.

Following a request, copies of the LGNZ amalgamation document would be sent to members of the Committee.

EPA Hearing – Tukituki Catchment Plan Change 6

The hearing is now into its third week, with submitters now being heard. It is not expected that the Hearing will conclude until end of January 2014 with a final decision by the Board to be released in early April.

TANK (Tutaekuri, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro and Karamu) Group

Responding to a question regarding the position of the settlements that have already been negotiated in these areas, Mr Adye confirmed that the ongoing relationship would be with the Regional Council or a unitary council if amalgamation was successful.

Concern was also expressed that Ahuriri representatives have not been part of the TANK discussion process to date and a decision could be made on the future of the area without consultation.

Councillor Graham was praise worthy of the TANK stakeholder group makeup of several organisations and people associated with land and water and requested that a list of the members be circulated to the Committee members.

Ruataniwha Water Storage

In response to a question in relation to the benefits that could be available for the development of Maori land from the construction of the dam, Mr Adye advised he would request a report for the Committee to be presented to the next meeting of the Māori Committee

Attendance at the EPA Hearing

Mr Hilton advised he had attended the first two weeks of the Hearing on a daily basis and was disappointed that the legal representatives for Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc had (in his mind) been prevented from full cross examination of Mr Stephen Daysh on communication issues by the Judge.

Following discussion, it was agreed that it had been extremely unfortunate that iwi appeared not to have received a fair hearing, however, Mr Paku drew attention to the Board of Enquiry Panel’s role at this Hearing.

MC29/13

Resolutions:

That the Māori Committee

1. Receive the verbal report by Mr Adye.

Mohi/Maihi-Carroll

CARRIED

2. Request a report be prepared for the Māori Committee outlining the potential benefits that will be available for the development of Māori Land in the Ruataniwha area as a result of the RWSS going ahead.

Haraki/Maihi-Carroll

CARRIED

10.	Verbal Update from Dr Roger Maaka on the "Establishment of Taiwhenua"
	As Dr Maaka was absent from the meeting, this verbal report did not occur.

11.

Future of Ahuriri Estuary Management

This agenda item was taken as read.

Mr Prentice advised that Mana Ahuriri would sign a statutory agreement on 19 December 2013 and a Statutory Management Board would put in place.

Mr Prentice stressed the importance of Mana Ahuriri being involved in consultation on the estuary but concluded that to date not much was being offered in terms of restoring the mauri of the estuary.

MC30/13

Resolution:

1 That the Māori Committee receives the “Future of Ahuriri Estuary Management” report.

Prentice/Mohi

CARRIED

12.

Climate Change Update

Dr Kozyniak gave a power-point presentation which illustrated the latest science on Climate Change and how it could actively mitigate against it by reducing CO₂ emissions.

Dr Kozyniak outlined a range of projects and activities currently being undertaken by HBRC to increase the resilience of the Hawke’s Bay community to the potential impacts of climate change.

The Committee noted that there was a prediction of increased temperatures which may result in a 10% (1.08m) sea level rise by 2100 and increased frequency and intensity of storm events, the winter seasons maybe drier than currently with the converse that the summers may be wetter.

Mr Adye advised that Professor Paul Komar had recently visited Napier and in his report he had also predicted a bigger wave force along with sea level rise so it was imperative that issues along the HB coast were looked at and what solutions were possible to protect the long term safety of communities along the coastline.

Responding to a question about residents building seawalls along the coast, Mr Adye advised that costs were a major issue and who should bear the costs. Mr Adye also advised that erosion issues at Haumoana could move northwards if the coast was interfered with resulting in a transfer of the problem to other areas.

MC31/13

Resolution:

1. That the Maori Committee receive the “Climate Change Update” report.

Maihi-Carroll/Hilton

CARRIED

14.

Air Quality Monitoring Update

Dr Kozyniak advised that Council had implemented a number of measures, both regulatory and non-regulatory to improve winter air quality both in Napier and Hastings to comply with the national Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ.

Dr Kozyniak gave a power-point presentation which illustrated the year to year variation in the number of times the NESAQ was exceeded in the cities’ air-sheds and to compare the air quality during the winter of 2013 with those of previous years.

Dr Kozyniak reported that in 2013 16 exceedances occurred in Hastings compared to 2012 when there were 10. Napier had 5 exceedances this year compared to none in 2012. It was noted that the normalised Pm10 concentrations showed an increase in 2013 compared to more recent years which is a deviation from a downward trend over time.

Ongoing monitoring in Waipawa since December 2012 has showed that to date there had been no exceedances.

Dr Kozyniak confirmed that weather conditions during the winter months does influence the results with wind appearing to be the most controlling factor and during 2013 the winds were lighter than in past years.

The Committee discussed the implications of the Heatsmart programme and queried whether the District Health Board had figures available to indicate who were the priority groups for improved home insulation and what sort of numbers were in these groups.

Following further discussion, the Committee noted that a large number of the community are in rental accommodation and the landlords hold the key to correcting the health issues that arise from wet and cold homes. However, with no incentive for the landlord to do this, it was difficult to implement the Heatsmart programme in this area.

The Committee noted that the programme is on target for replacing 10,000 fires by 2020 with requests for financial assistance trending towards more grants than loans as was previously the case.

The Committee also noted that it was probable that the DHB had an idea of the contribution of cold houses to ill health A suggestion was made that perhaps figures collected by the DHB could be used as a potential target for homes that required priority insulation.

MC32/13

Resolution

That the Māori Committee:

1. Receives the “Air Quality Monitoring Update” report.

2. Requests staff consult with Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and provide a report on the possibility to target potential homes for priority insulation using winter health survey results undertaken by the DHB

Haraki/Mohi

CARRIED

13.

Tukituki Water Permit Renewal Process Update

Mr Maxwell updated the Committee on the progress of the 46 replacement consent applications to take water from the Tukituki River catchment.

Mr Maxwell advised that following the applications being publicly notified in June, four submissions were received, two from applicants in support of their own applications, the other two from Fish & Game and the Department of Conservation. DOC did not request a hearing however Fish & Game wished to be heard. Following successful negotiations with Fish & Game, the consents were able to renewed without the requirement for a hearing. As a result, the costs calculated for this process were reduced considerably.

Mr Maxwell noted that there is a limited amount of water, this has all been allocated for use and if it is not used by consent holders, they will lose it..

In response to a question, Mr Maxwell confirmed that a rise in sea level could result in saline intrusion into the groundwater. However, tests are undertaken on salt water levels on a regular basis as it is a critical issue for groundwater management.

Mr Maxwell also described the telemetry process installed by Council to monitor each take and the benefits to the consent holder as they are able to know their actual water use.

MC33/13

Resolution:

1. That the Maori Committee receive the “Tukituki Water Permit Renewal Process Update” report.

Maihi-Carroll/Belford

CARRIED

15.

Statutory Advocacy Update

Mr Moule updated the Committee on the Statutory Advocacy report and the current status of activities listed in particular the application made by Rongomaiwahine iwi to the High Court for a protected Customary Rights Order and a Customary Marine Title Order.

MC34/13

Resolution:

1. That the Maori Committee receive the “Statutory Advocacy Update” report.

Mohi/Paku

CARRIED

16.

Minor Items Not on the Agenda

Item	Topic	Councillor/Committee member / Staff
1.	Māori Land in the vicinity of the proposed Water Storage Dam This item was discussed during the course of the meeting	Mr Haraki
2.	Amalgamation This item was also discussed during the course of the meeting	Mr Haraki
3.	Mangaroa Marae - Hui Chairman Mohi advised that a hui would be held at the Mangaroa marae on Wednesday, 4 December to discuss the Karewarewa and Paritua Streams and options for the future.	Chairman Mohi

Closure:

Prior to closing the meeting, Chairman Mohi wished all present a Merry Xmas and good wishes for 2014.

KARAKIA – FRED MCROBERTS

There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 12.25PM on Tuesday, 3 December 2013..

Signed as a true and correct record.

DATE: ................................................ CHAIRMAN: ...............................................