Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust Chairperson Marama Royal. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Having Māori at the decision-making table in Auckland Council is high on the agenda at tonight's Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei mayoral debate.
Candidates Efeso Collins, Wayne Brown, Viv Beck and Craig Lord will be pressed on Three Waters, affordable housing, climate change, co-governance and representation in Auckland Council.
Trust Chair Marama Royal said having a senior Māori advisor for the incoming mayor was crucial for the hapū to have a voice.
"That person will be able to assist and guide the new mayor around some of those important decisions that is impacting on Māori, especially Māori here in Tāmaki and across Tāmaki Makaurau so it would be a good way to strengthen that relationship with the new mayor coming in," Royal said.
The hapū was also interested in knowing Auckland Council's position on climate change and co-governance.
"We've been using a co-governance model with Auckland Council for the past 25 years with our whenua rangatira, although the model has its pros and cons, it has worked and so we'd like to see whether there is appetite to replicate that co-governance model across council and of course we would really like to have the ability to put more representation on Auckland Council's CTO's," Royal said.
More than 150,000 Māori live in the region, the largest Māori population in the country.
The hapū was currently trying to build papakāinga in Ōrakei but Royal said the current resource consent rules were making the process more difficult and she would like to see them relaxed.
"We're having to put in a heap of infrastructure when we do build papakāinga, having bought back a lot of Housing New Zealand homes in our in Kaipo which is Ōrakei, the infrastructure doesn't fit what we're wanting to put on when we're starting to intensify the housing by going up," Royal said.
She was also encouraging not just her hapū but all Māori to get out and vote in the upcoming mayoral election.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei did not have a preferred mayor but the hapū was keeping its options open, she said.