In a dramatic turn for local governance, an 8–8 deadlock has broken what had been a 160-year tradition of cooperation between Palmerston North City Council and its local mana whenua, Rangitāne o Manawatū, ending formal iwi representation on the Council’s key committee for arts, culture and heritage.
The tie vote thwarted Mayor Grant Smith’s plan to retain iwi-appointed members on the Rangitāne o Manawatū Committee, sending a clear message that the Council may be shifting away from decades of shared decision-making.
Council documents show that the committee, established under a 2019 Partnership Agreement, had been central to iwi-Council collaboration, giving Rangitāne voice on issues of Māori wellbeing, city heritage and long-term planning.
The eight councillors who voted against iwi representation are Mark Arnott, Lew Findlay, Hayden Fitzgerald, Leonie Hapeta, Billy Meehan, Orphée Mickalad, Karen Naylor and William Wood.
They said their decision was based on fairness and local democracy, arguing that giving non-elected iwi members voting rights was simply “undemocratic.”
Danielle Harris, the leader of Rangitāne o Manawatū, strongly rejected this reason, calling the argument “false and unhelpful.”
She says the opposition comes from a serious lack of understanding about the Treaty of Waitangi and the roles of Māori representatives.
Harris insisted that the two groups are different: “The Māori voice and the iwi voice are not the same.” This mistake, she argues, leads to political failures where “our people pay the price and are again excluded.”
Kei te hoki whakamuri te hononga a te kaunihera ki te mana whenua
Ko Debi Marshall Lobb, he uri nō Rangitāne, kahika tuarua hoki o te kaunihera, tētahi o te hunga kei te kaha tautoko i ngā hononga ki ngā iwi o tērā takiwā.
“Ka aroha au ki ōku iwi o Rangitāne me kī nā te mea kua mahi tahi a Rangitāne me te kaunihera mō ngā tau e maha.”
Hei tāna kua hoki whakamuri ngā whakaaro o ēnei kaipōti.
I whakaae te Koromatua a Grant Smith ki te taumahatanga o te mahi a te kaunihera.
E mea ana ia kua kotahi rau e ono tekau tau e mahi tahi ana te kaunihera me Rangitāni, engari kua huripokina tērā.
Ahakoa te āhua whakamuri o te wā, hei tā Marshall-Lobb “Me titiro whakamua, me kimi tētahi atu ara kia tū tahi tātou a Rangitāne te mana whenua me te kaunihera o te Papaioea”
