Lake Taupō. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Councillors in Taupō will vote on a new joint management agreement of Lake Taupō and the Upper Waikato River with local iwi Ngāti Tūwharetoa today.
The legally required agreement has attracted controversy with one councillor calling in lobby group Hobson's Pledge to raise his concerns to a wider audience.
The purpose of the draft Joint Management Agreement (JMA) is to protect the water of Lake Taupō (Taupō Moana) and the Upper Waikato River. It would see the council and Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board collaborate on work such as monitoring and enforcement, district plan reviews, resource consent application assessments, and enabling customary activities.
Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board chair John Bishara said it's a very important day for both the board and council and he is looking forward to a positive result.
"What [the JMA] does is reaffirms our relationship and partnership with our wai and inclusion of the Taupō District Council."
The JMA is a legal requirement under the Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Raukawa, and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Act 2010 (also known as the Upper Waikato River Act 2010), which mandates agreements between local authorities and Waikato River iwi trusts.
The council already maintains agreements with Te Arawa River Iwi Trust (signed in 2017) and Raukawa Settlement Trust (signed in 2013).
The council said "this agreement will enable the shared protection and restoration of these waterways for future generations."
"While the council could manage these responsibilities independently, protecting and restoring the environment is a shared responsibility. Ngāti Tūwharetoa, as mana whenua and legal owners of the beds of Lake Taupō, the Upper Waikato River, and many of the tributaries, have both the cultural and legal right to be involved."
But in a written statement Taupō District Councillor Duncan Campbell said he was concerned by the agreements financial implications, "treaty-framed governance language" and a lack of public consultation.
"The agreement should be subject to public consultation and independent legal review - not because I oppose partnership, but because I support good governance."
However Bishara said the Trust Board and council had been working together on the agreement for many years.
"There's always room for consultation, however I don't think that consultation is going to improve the document that we already have worked with the council. Look I see the council as being the governors like we are, they represent their people."
The Trust Board is the owner of the bed of Lake Taupō, including the Waikato River to Huka Falls and tributaries flowing into the lake, on behalf of ngā hapū o Tūwharetoa.
"We believe that the ownership of the lake and the water column above it is Ngāti Tūwharetoa's, so we have huge rights and interests," Bishara said.
Bishara said there has been opposition to bringing Lake Taupō into the agreement as the Upper Waikato River Act only covers the Waikato River, but he said it makes more sense to treat it as one connected system.
"It's indivisible... to distinguish them separately wouldn't be appropriate. I believe that the council do agree with that but it is an extension of the Waikato River Settlement."
Bishara said it has been a long journey and there a still many things to work out with the council, but he believes the board will get approval for the Joint Management Agreement.
Campbell said his concerns with the JMA weren't with the Treaty itself, but with the ambiguity and breadth of language used throughout the agreement, particularly clauses that speak to 'shared responsibilities', 'partnership' and decision-making influence without precise boundaries.
"When unelected parties are embedded in planning, consenting, enforcement, and land management processes, the line between co-management and co-governance blurs."
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