Prominent Māori leader Pita Tipene has been selected by fellow councillors to become Northland Regional Council’s chair.
Kawakawa’s Tipene (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Te Tarawa) was chosen in a 5:3 vote to helm the Northland Regional Council (NRC) at its inauguration ceremony in Whangārei on November 5.
Tipene (64) retired in June after seven years at the helm of the Waitangi National Trust and has held numerous regional and national leadership roles, including on the council’s Māori committee Te Ruarangi.
He was chosen as council chair after being elected onto NRC’s Te Raki Māori Constituency last month.
Tipene edged out former NRC chair Hikurangi’s Geoff Crawford, who lost his bid for a second stint as chair.
He becomes just the third regional council chair from a Māori constituency, and one of two current ones.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council also has a chair from a Māori constituency.
NRC is the first regional council to have had two chairs from a Māori electoral area. Its first was former chair Tui Shortland.
Tipene said he represented his Māori constituency, which brought a particular worldview, but he would be working on behalf of all Northlanders.
He said he was disappointed NRC electors voted to get rid of NRC’s Māori constituency.
Just 661 votes separated the 50.5% majority that voted to get rid of the constituency, in what was Northland’s smallest majority vote to get rid of the ward.
Tipene said he was humbled to gain the top job.
He said the nine politicians around the NRC top table were individuals, but they moved collectively, working on behalf of all Northlanders.
His first aim was to build cohesion and unity of purpose in the governance team and focus on supporting Northland.
Crawford, who was re-elected as a councillor unopposed, said he looked forward to working with Tipene and fellow councillors.
“I might not be the captain now, but I’m still on the team and my job is to work as hard as I can for the betterment of Northland,” Crawford said.
Tipene and others acknowledged Crawford’s contribution as Chair.
These included going straight to the top to meet the Prime Minister and Government Ministers for Northlanders’ betterment, his efforts in bringing a large chunk of Northport shareholding ownership into Northlanders’ hands and his leading role in getting $6.2 million in Government funding to fight the invasive marine pest Caulerpa exotic seaweed.
Crs Jack Craw, Toss Kitchen, Amy Macdonald, Arama Morunga, and Tipene himself voted for his chairmanship.
Crs John Blackwell, John Hunt and Crawford himself backed Crawford, while Cr Joe Carr abstained.
Councillors elected Whangārei’s Craw for NRC Deputy-Chair, who beat out Joe Carr and Crawford.
This is Craw’s second stint in that role as he begins his third term.
Craw said his main role was to support the chair, and he would focus on building harmony between councillors.
The new regional council sees a mix of old and new among the nine-member top table – Craw and John Blackwell, Carr, Crawford, John Hunt, Toss Kitchen, Arama Morunga, Pita Tipene and Amy Macdonald.
Macdonald attended the meeting remotely from Wellington law firm Simpson Grierson, where she was sworn into office by delegate Kaipara Moana Remediation chief executive Justine Daw.
The council meeting saw the return of longtime local government politician, Northland Civil Defence chair, Fire and Emergency New Zealand Kaitāia chief, and community leader Toss Kitchen to NRC.
Kitchen, who now lives between Tokerau Beach and Te Ngaere Bay, was a Far North District Councillor for 12 years before being elected to NRC in 2019 and standing down at the 2022 elections.
He had sought re-election to help bring harmony back to the council’s top table.
Kitchen said the last council term had seen a very divided governance team, which had created a lot of stress for councillors and staff.
Meanwhile, first-time Māori constituency councillor Whangārei’s Arama Morunga (Te Hikutu hapū, Ngāpuhi/Ngati Hine) said being in the council chamber for the swearing-in ceremony felt like having his family all around him.
His wife, Bronwyn and children Kanoa (then 7) and Waiaaio (then 6) feature in the mural on the council chamber’s east wall, completed by AH Reed Bush in 2019, when Morunga worked at NRC as its cultural advisor.
