The Auckland Council is being told it needs to do more to meet its obligations to improve life for Māori in the city.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. Photo: RNZ
A review released yesterday commissioned by the council's Independent Maori Statutory Board found little improvement since a critical review three years ago.
It looked at the council's efforts to improve economic, social and cultural outcomes for Māori - and found more than half the issues raised in the 2014 report remain unresolved.
For example, Auckland Transport spent only half of the $1.2 million budgeted for road safety programmes targeting young Māori and having Māori wardens on trains.
The Statutory Board's chairman David Taipari told Morning Report yesterday he was amazed the Council was underspending its budget for Māori.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff conceded that underspending the council's Māori budget means Māori are missing out.
"I expect next year it will hit 100 percent" - Phil Goff
This morning he told Morning Report if it had been an end of year school report it would have said "improvement, but needs to do better."
"I won't be happy until it [spending on Māori] fully expends the budget that we provide and does the job we want it to.
"I expect next year it will hit 100 percent, it's what it should hit."
Goff said he was unsure how many, if any, Māori were on the council's executive team but said he suspected it was underachieving.