Te Waka McLeod, New Plymouth District Council Māori ward councillor. Photo: Supplied/ New Plymouth District Council
For the first time ever, New Plymouth's council will meet on a marae - and it's a case of "about time", the district's first Māori ward councillor says.
Te Waka McLeod, who has affiliations to iwi around Taranaki maunga as well as Scots and Irish ancestry, helped instigate the invitation to Owae Marae in Waitara.
She said the council chamber in New Plymouth was an uncomfortable space for many Māori.
"So my desire to see these kinds of meetings in our spaces is probably something that I felt needed to happen and I thought it was about time since we have the Māori ward set up.
"And I think we have a good council that is prepared to step into these unfamiliar places for some of our councillors."
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She said mayor Neil Holdom, councillors, community board members and council staff could expect a warm welcome at Owae, Te Āiawa's main marae.
"Marae are very welcoming and a space where we welcome all visitors into our space, so they'll be well looked after, they'll be fed."
Some of the community board members had admitted to never having been on a marae before.
"This is an opportunity to begin that journey for those members who haven't been on a marae that sit in these places of leadership to actually understand it's not a scary place," McLeod said.
"I think they'll love it. It's going to be casual and a place of learning because we are going to share some history and we're going to go through protocols, so I think this will be awesome to have."
McLeod said the meeting at Owae would help cement the work council and Māori were already doing together.
"I think it's timely and I think our council is in the right space to have these conversations, and I know council does a lot of amazing work with local hapū and local iwi, so this is just broadening the scope of how we can work together in a co-governance way where hapū and iwi are inviting a council - a Pākehā governance institution - into a Māori space."
She said the anti co-governance movement was being driven by fear.
"There are a lot of people fearful of what Māori will do if they do come into a governance role, but we've seen many examples across the country of how actually this is helping Māori and non-Māori to work together for the betterment of all people, so we would hope that council, iwi and hapū can continue that positive conversation."
Te Waka said co-governance was still hard work because for many people it was a new concept.
New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom was excited about holding the meeting a Owae.
Mayor of New Plymouth Neil Holdom. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
"It's my understanding that this is the first time the New Plymouth District Council has held a meeting at a marae - we've obviously focused on partnership with mana whenua over the last several years, and as the relationship builds and the trust evolves we were invited to hold a meeting at Owae, and I think everybody is very excited," Holdom said.
The council team would be there to listen and learn, he said.
"Obviously Owae is an amazing place with a lot of history and I think part of the relationship with council and our iwi partners is about telling that history in a different way because a lot of the stories from a Māori perspective haven't been told.
"And there'll be a lot of listening before the meeting proper. It's part of that ongoing relationship, and we'll help tell some of those stories from a Māori perspective."
The New Plymouth community had come a long way since the introduction of a Māori ward was thrown out via a citizen's initiated poll in 2015, Holdom said.
"For those who were afraid, they can see now we've got this wonderful member of council Te Waka McLeod, who's New Plymouth's first Māori ward councillor, a fantastic professional, and the relationship is improving.
"I'm not sure what the concerns were that for those that perceived of it as a bad thing, but from my perspective we are really fortunate to have her on the team and we're really working to build trust between people.
"And I think the fact that we've been invited to Owae and are holding a council meeting there is a sign that the relationship is deepening and broadening and the community as a whole is already benefiting from that."
In 2021, the government announced it would scrap the ability to hold citizen's initiated poll against Māori wards ahead of the local body elections in 2022.
The polls were described as being "discriminatory" because they only applied to the formation of Māori wards.
The council meeting at Owae Marae begins at 1pm.