ELLIOT IKILEI: Forget co-governance, this is straight up treason

There is a major shift happening under our noses, as power moves from elected representatives to unelected and unaccountable iwi and hapū appointees.

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:

"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 a trustee of Hobson's Pledge