Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements (MWRs) are undermining local democracy and will be sped up by captured councils and local iwi before the government passes its Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms.
As I write, the Far North District Council is rushing through more MWRs with multiple iwi (and even hapū). They are giving this work priority and seeking to avoid public consultation. They are negotiating with five iwi and one hapū. The RMA specifically talks about iwi authorities; it doesn’t mention hapū.
What’s worse, brave whistleblower Councillor Davina Smolders has highlighted that the Far North MWR agreement explicitly cedes sovereignty to iwi!
In clause '2.0 Relationship to He Whakaputanga’, the text states:
In clause '2.0 Relationship to He Whakaputanga’, the text states:
"The Parties recognise the significance for Te Rünanga-A-Iwi-Õ-Ngāpuhi of He Whakaputanga o Te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni as a declaration of the status of Mãori as the sovereign people of Aotearoa/ New Zealand”
Local councils should not be ceding our nation’s sovereignty to anyone. It is a massive constitutional matter. I'm pretty sure it is called “treason” actually.
On top of this, we understand this approach is being pushed out to iwi across the country – urging councils to get these agreements in place as quickly as possible and before any reform to the RMA occurs. If they get these agreements in place now, then unless the Government specifically revokes them via RMA reform, these agreements remain intact and virtually impossible to undo.
Minister Chris Bishop needs to act. He needs to amend his RMA replacement Bills to put an end to Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements. He will argue that the new laws will stop new MWR agreements, but this misses the point – iwi and captured councils are racing to get these agreements in place before the law changes.
The Minister needs to make it clear now that these agreements will not stand, no matter when they are signed. Elected power sits with elected officials. No one else.
Minister Simon Watts also needs to act, as the Minister for Local Government, to stop power moving from the elected to the unelected.
These agreements are taking power away from locals and elected representatives and entrenching more control into iwi. That's why various iwi across the country, and weak councils, are making obtaining these agreements a priority over roads, footpaths, water treatment. They want more control in the hands of unelected iwi.
Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements are co-governance and preferential treatment based on race. Actually, as Davina Smolders says, forget co-governance, this is straight-up iwi governance.
These agreements, being implemented across the country, are actively transferring power from elected councils to iwi.
In the Far North, these MWR agreements are moving through a council committee that is already full of unelected representatives from the very iwi and hapū negotiating the agreements! Talk about a massive conflict of interest.
We’re also hearing that the Far North District Council is trying to create a MWR with the iwi leaders' collective of the region – that is, a council of local iwi leaders and not just the individual iwi. It is agreement on top of agreement, binding control on top of binding control, and all stripping power and influence away from elected councillors.
What is happening in the Far North, Taupō, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, and elsewhere is the deliberate replacement of democracy with unelected iwi elites getting special seats at the table, influence over public assets, planning powers, and ongoing ratepayer-funded “resourcing” — all while ordinary Kiwis are shut out of the conversation.
Minister for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, has the power to put an end to this. The coalition government promised a lot with the RMA reform, but we remain disappointed with the current proposal. It embeds racial preference and allows these kinds of agreements to remain, meaning any reform is near-meaningless.
Their embedding of preference trumps everything else.
Elliot Ikilei is the spokesperson for Hobson's Pledge. This article was sourced HERE
13 comments:
It’s called representative democracy. I’m a big fan, you vote for councillors or members of parliament who the enact the things that benefit kiwis. It sure beats folks who are in the pocket of mining and fishery mega corporations.
If you have a better idea than representative democracy, then we would love to hear it. I wouldn’t want a certain percentage of uneducated and uninformed public to go about setting the budget, mind you, because the country would fall apart rather quickly. And women probably still wouldn’t be able to vote or own property, and the gays would still be illegal!
>"... the status of Mãori as the sovereign people of Aotearoa/ New Zealand"
What this literally means is that ONLY Maori can dictate to Parliament what laws should be passed. If A and B cohabit, and A is sovereign, then B cannot be sovereign. There is no such thing as "co-sovereignty". So this is NOT about co-governance but about handing the reins of power to Maori in their entirety.
Gosh, I wonder when the next flight to Aussie is......
Bishop and Watts will fail in their assignment.
They will be captured and hoodwinked by the system and NZ will be worse off with the new legislation.
Perhaps we are making some incorrect assumptions here, that our political leaders are just too stupid to see what is happening right before their eyes. What if they can see exactly what we are all seeing, and are quietly patting themselves on the back? All is going to plan! The pieces are falling into place quite nicely. And the idiot voters will give us another 3 years to tie up all the loose ends. Goodbye NZ, welcome Outer Roa, 3rd world here we come. Pity about that, but all good nations must end sometime.
Are our so called Government leaders doing anything about this travesty of democracy ?
Read about this in the Herald ?
or Stuff ?
a lead item on Tv1 news ?
Our MSM is as corrupt at the FNDC and others.
Luxon and co are banging on about the economy as the most important threat to our communities, while democracy is quickly being eaten away by Maori and those besotted with their lies.
Luxon, open your eyes, see what's happening, and do something !
You have a mandate that so far you have failed miserably to fulfill.
My vote again ? No way !
Agree, to se the Z oil backdoor company lobbying end up in an NZ law is madness. The politicians serve the people, not the oil barons. Or so I thought.
To Anonymous comment #1: So representative democracy means having unelected non-representatives in charge? Surely democracy needs some rules to prevent unrepresentative interest groups from taking control, be that corporations or race groups.
Anonymous #1..... clearly you are part of the unthinking population that does not scrutinise what gummint does. .... does not understand democracy.... buries head in sand, and likely has no idea of real history. Dear God... wake up !
Anon #1 appears to be the only person on the thread taking about how democracy is actually enacted in NZ. Others seem to be into some alternative form of government. Can’t wait to see what they come up with!
In subissions on the Waitakere Heritage Area deed of Acknowledgement 2025 a few submitters very forcefully pointed out that the proposed 50/50 appointed maori/others on the guidance team would give effective control to maori. So as a token sop one extra was added to the non appointed maori side.But the chance of all the others having escaped pro maori propoganda, maori influence, likely cancellation by maori is very remote.
"It’s called representative democracy."
No. It isn't. Liberal democracy entails one person, one vote. What's happening in local government most emphatically isn't that. Those of us old enough to remember South Africa prior to about 1990, and pre-civil rights USA in the 1960s, recognise it for what it is: apartheid. Government by race, not by elected representation. Certainly not democracy.
And, what do we hear from Maori more generally? "Honour the Treaty."
Yep, happy to do that, but be it in English or Te Reo, show me where Iwi are mentioned?
As for He Whakaputanga, it's more of a 'simple nullity' in the 21st Century than the ToW.
But as for Luxon, Bishop, and Watts et al, your day is coming and because you've failed to deliver as you SAID you would, you're likely toast - and deservedly so. As for New Zealand, you better buckle up because...
I strongly recommend that new parents give their children Maori sounding names.
This will give them plenty of unequal opportunities.
Imagine all the benefits later in life - impressive consulting fees, extraordinary voting (and veto rights), more dollars for any excuse - what little earner for doing nothing more complicated than assigning a name.
Lighter sentences if they get into trouble, their own tikanga laws, no need to bother with school, free health benefits, oh what a great life !
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