Council engagement with tāngata whenua for RMA processes - a Ngāi Tahu case study
Questions to Local Authorities
The following questions were discussed with 26 South Island councils during 2005 and 2006. They were prepared by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and the Ministry for the Environment to fulfil the requirements of Clause 12.15.3 of the Ngāi Tahu Deed of Settlement 1997.
- Have you identified relevant hapū/rūnanga and key individuals within Ngāi Tahu in your district or region? Where do you keep this information? Is it available to all staff and applicants?
- Do you have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or any other form of protocol or service level agreement with local iwi or hapū? If so, with which iwi/hapū/rūnanga?
- Do you keep copies of any iwi planning documents that the hapū/rūnanga/ iwi in your district or region have produced? If yes, for what purposes do you use these iwi planning documents? Are they accessible to all staff?
- Do you provide funding for Māori practitioners in RMA or LGA processes? If so, to what extent and through what means?
- Do you have a database of sites of significance to Ngāi Tahu? Where is this held and in what form? Is it accessible to the public?
- Are you aware of the issues or resource management activities of concern to Ngāi Tahu in your district/region? Are there any particular activities that you expect to be of concern to Ngāi Tahu in your district/region?
- Are staff trained in awareness of iwi issues specific to their job and relevant to iwi/hapū/rūnanga in their district/region. If so, how does this training occur?
- What information do you have for the public on consultation with tāngata whenua? How do you keep this current?
- What resources/mechanisms/processes do you have in place to determine whether iwi/hapū/rūnanga are an 'affected party ' for a resource consent application?
- What resources/mechanisms/processes do you have in place to determine if iwi/hapū /rūnanga are to be consulted and notified?
- What processes are used to involve iwi/hapū/rūnanga in the development of your RMA policies and plans (including changes and variations)? For example, did these processes include the preparation of a tāngata whenua values and issues report, direct consultation with relevant individuals, incorporating provisions of iwi management plans, database of issues of concern?
- Are any Statutory Acknowledgement areas provided for in the district/regional plan? If not, why not?
- Apart from anything otherwise covered in a Memorandum of Understanding, protocol or service level agreement, do you have a process to make iwi aware of consents that are of interest? If yes, is this working well? Do you have an understanding of the types and categories of consent that they may be interested in, that you inform them about?
- How are the applicants made aware of issues of concern to iwi? Do you encourage applicants to consult with iwi?
- When a site/species or resource use is of concern to iwi do you require an assessment of cultural impact, as part of the application to be presented by the applicant?
- Do you maintain a register that records the number of resource consent applications received that affect a statutory acknowledgement?
- Of those applications within a statutory acknowledgement area, how many times was Ngāi Tahu deemed to be an affected party?
- Do you have any policies in place about using Māori Commissioners in Resource Management decision-making? If yes, is this outlined in your delegations manual?
- Do you provide for Māori protocol at council hearings?
- If more Māori Commissioners were available, do you consider the Council would make more use of these in decision-making processes?
- Do you have standard conditions that cover discovery of significant sites or items to tāngata whenua?
- Do you involve tāngata whenua in RMA monitoring? If so, to what degree?
