E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatangamaha o Te Moana ā Toi Te Huatahi tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. E ngā iwi me te hāpori Māori, mai Ngā Kurī a Whārei ki Tihirau, mai Maketū ki Tauhara huri noa i te rohe o Toi Moana kei te mihi.

A pānui to share what Komiti Māori and Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council are doing around the rohe that is relevant to iwi, hapū and marae.

He ao hou kei tua, a new dawn is on the horizon

In the last e-pānui, we announced that at the Regional Council meeting held Thursday 1 April 2021, changes were unanimously approved to enhance the role of Komiti Māori. 

There are two major changes that we wanted to make you aware of. Firstly, Komiti Māori is now a full committee of Council, in that all of our Councillors are now members and are required to attend meetings.

Opportunities for shared decision-making and mechanisms to build capacity and improve working relationships with Māori will feature in the development of the Komiti Māori work programme.  

The second change, is that through the updated terms of reference Komiti Māori will alternate hui locations between marae and Regional Council Chambers. The first of these meetings will take place at Regional Council Chambers on 24 June 2021. Please below for details. 

If you have any enquiries please email Kataraina O'Brien.

Hui mō te marama o Pipiri

The Komiti Māori hui on Thursday 24 June 2021 will be held in Regional House Council Chambers, 1 Elizabeth Street, Tauranga.

The meeting will commence at approximately 12:30pm or at the conclusion of an earlier  Council meeting.

Please note: we expect that this hui may only be a short one. 

On 17 August 2021, Komiti Māori will meet on a marae in the Ōkurei constituency, where tangata whenua are invited to attend and/or present. 

If you have any further questions please contact Kataraina O'Brien.

Te Hononga Update - Te Mana o te Wai

In June 2020, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council endorsed Te Hononga: the Regional Māori Engagement Plan for the implementation of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM). This occurred prior to gazettal of the NPSFM in August 2020 to enable staff to begin early discussions with tangata whenua on how they would like to be involved with the implementation process.

Staff have continued these discussions with tangata whenua.  We would like to gain a clear understanding of what level of support is needed to ensure that you are able to participate in the co-design of policy that will inform a plan change to the Regional Policy Statement and the Regional Natural Resources Plan.  

To achieve this Te Hononga proposes a range of engagement options based on building relationships that enable collaborative arrangements with tangata whenua. 
The consequence of these provisions are long term, and will eventually involve tangata whenua in council operations relating to freshwater including: monitoring and compliance activities; resource management plan development and review; catchment management; rivers and drainage. 

Please contact Anaru Vercoe to discuss how council can support you to advance your whakaaro and your moemoea in the management of ngā taonga wai Māori.

Korehāhā Whakahau 

Eddie Sykes and Merenia Sawrey from Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa presented at Komiti Māori in April. We heard an outstanding presentation around the work being done by Ngāti Awa towards eradicating pests. Their video highlighted the success of the project including creating jobs for descendants of Ngāti Awa as well as learning new skills to help to look after their whenua.