Komiti Māori hui to be held in Ōkurei

The next Kōmiti Māori hui will be held in the Ōkurei constituency on Monday 2 November 2020. The venue is Hinemihi Marae, 23 Hona Road in Rotorua. The powhiri will start at 9.30am. The meeting agenda and any hui updates will be available on the Regional Council Website. For any enquiries please contact Kataraina O'Brien.

Recent announcements by the Ministry for the Environment

Judge Skelton has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Fresh Water Planning process. He will meet with iwi leaders from around the Toi Moana region on 28th October. For any enquiries, please contact Kataraina O'Brien.

The Fresh Water Planning process will streamline decisions by requiring regional councils to notify freshwater plans that give effect to the NPS-FM by 31 Dec 2024 and make final decisions within two years of notification. It will also require establishing independent freshwater hearings panels with enhanced hearing powers, made up of expert freshwater commissioners, councils and tangata whenua nominees.

Te Mana o te Wai fund is due to open for applications late 2020. The purpose of the Te Mana o te Wai Fund is to help Māori improve the water quality of freshwater bodies (including lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries and lagoons) that are of importance to them.

Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund

Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund invests in the development of skilled people and organisations that plan to undertake, or are undertaking, research that supports the themes and outcomes of our Vision Mātauranga policy.

The Vision Mātauranga policy aims to unlock the science and innovation potential of Māori knowledge, resources and people to assist New Zealanders to create a better future.

Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund 2021 investment round opens for applications from 9 September 2020 until 12 noon, 11 November 2020.

Freshwater Improvement Fund 

The Ministry for the Environment recently announced the Freshwater Improvement fund which is a part of the Jobs for Nature funding programme. Funding is for projects that create employment opportunities which will improve the management of New Zealand’s lakes, rivers, streams, groundwater and wetlands.

This includes funding for:

• reduction of sediment eroding from the land 
• wetland construction and restoration 
• stream reinstatements
• estuary protection and restoration
• restoration of fish passage.

Applications for Round 2 will be accepted between 27 January to 10 February 2021.

Better future for inanga on the Whakatāne River.

Whakatāne residents of both the human and fish kind are enjoying new inanga (whitebait) ponds and spawning habitat built in the river berm alongside the Whakatāne River.

The riverside berm has been leased for grazing by Bay of Plenty Regional Council for many years as a convenient way of keeping the area tidy and controlling weeds. However, earlier this year, the Rivers and Drainage team decided to trial a different approach that will increase the environmental and amenity values of that area.

Kaituna River Re-diversion project receives second award for excellence

The Kaituna River Re-diversion and Te Awa o Ngātoroirangi / Maketu Estuary Enhancement Project was announced this week as the 2020 winner of the Terry Healy Coastal Project Award from the New Zealand Coastal Society (NZCS).

The award acknowledges a coastal project which has made a significant contribution to New Zealand’s coastal and marine environment and is the second award for excellence that the project has received in the last six months.

Te Hononga- Regional Māori Engagement plan for Freshwater

Te Hononga is the Māori relationships and engagement plan for the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM) and the Regional Natural Resources Plan (RNRP) work programmes. Te Hononga provides a pathway to support the implementation of the NPSFM 2020.

Te Hononga recognises that iwi and hapū across the region have different interests, different levels of readiness, and varying ranges of capacity and capability to participate in planning processes. In response, a flexible approach is proposed, in which various options for involvement are made available, individually or in combination.

Two key phases are proposed:
Phase 1 (Now-Dec 2020): informal hui to establish engagement preferences and set up the project;
Phase 2 (2021-2023): Confirm and establish engagement options and collaborate with Māori to identify values and design corresponding attributes. This will inform the policy development process.

Government consultation with Māori on trade

The Government has put forward $200 million to help New Zealand exporters currently trading internationally or intending to trade internationally, as part of its COVID-19 response.

One in every four jobs in New Zealand is derived from international trade. This allocation is welcome news for Māori businesses who could expect on a straight per capita basis to see around $33 million of support over four years.

Regional Land Transport Plan

Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council is currently developing the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) 2021. The RLTP sets the vision and objectives for our Region’s land transport system and is developed by the Regional Transport Committee with representation from all our region’s councils.

 The RLTP is the way the region collectively seeks central government funding for activities ranging from road safety and maintenance, to walking and cycling, to public transport and road improvements. The RLTP sets out the Region’s preferred approach to investment – prioritising integrated planning, demand management, and network optimisation approaches before investing in new infrastructure, and determining which outcomes are most important to the Region. It is a requirement under the Land Transport Management Act 2003. However, the funding applied for is not guaranteed – it is our combined ‘what we want to do’ list with the final say on how funds are allocated determined by Waka Kotahi (the NZ Transport Agency). Funding decisions will be published by Waka Kotahi in the National Land Transport Programme in August 2021.

 In the New Year, Toi Moana staff will engage with our communities and Māori partners on the draft RLTP 2021. It is vital that Māori are involved in the consultation process to ensure that that the RLTP, and its proposed programme of works, take into account and reflects Māori aspirations. The RLTP consultation does not replace specific consultation for individual projects – this still occurs with iwi as individual projects are designed and implemented.

If you would like to see a copy of the current RLTP 2018, you can access it below, or if you would like to know more, please give Andrew Williams a call on 0800 884 881x8382.  

Komiti Māori Members

Members: