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Christel Yardley / Stuff
Paula Southgate, Mayor of Hamilton: “It’s a focus and it’s partnership-based, because we absolutely can’t do it on our own.” (File photo).
A new draft document setting out a bold strategy for the Hamilton City Council to engage and substantially strengthen its relationship with Maori has received enthusiastic approval from city politicians.
And possibly the most enthusiastic is Mayor Paula Southgate, who has hailed Pillars of wellness – Pillars of wellness as a “starting point for the courageous conversations that we have been saying we need to have for some time.”
However, not all councilors in Tuesday’s session of the council’s community committee forecast an entirely positive response from the public to the new document, and Cr Ewan Wilson anticipates “significant controversy” from some quarters.
The history of the Maori in Kirikiriroa / Hamilton has recently come into the spotlight with the sudden exhumation of the statue of Captain Hamilton in Civic Square, just outside the council offices.
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The removal of the effigy of the current namesake from the city was prompted by a statement by a prominent Waikato kaumatua that he wanted to tear it down because of Hamilton’s role in the New Zealand Wars.
In turn, he raised a multitude of other issues for debate, including the possibility that some of the city’s streets were named after other Pakeha military leaders in the wars needed to be renamed, and even if the city itself needed to be re-named. his original Maori nickname of Kirikiriroa. .
A living breath, which is still in its preliminary form, is described as a “high-level planning document that will focus the council’s work on delivering shared results of equal benefit to Maori and all Hamiltonians.”
Among the topics it covers are a brief history of the Maori in Kirikiriroa, a snapshot of the current Maori community, and details of the council’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.
CHRISTEL YARDLEY / Waikato Times
Councilor Ewan Wilson: “It is a somewhat one-sided relationship.” (File photo)
It will be released to the public for comment soon and Southgate said he hoped it would end many years of “sitting here wringing hands and getting nowhere.”
“This strategy does not presuppose any results at all. There is no promise around changing city names or anything else here.
“It’s an approach and it’s based on partnership, because absolutely, we can’t do it on our own.”
Cr Wilson had a different opinion.
“This document… is going to generate great controversy. People will read [it] and they will develop the feeling that changes are taking place, and I think we will get a great response.
“It places a lot of obligation on the council to become strongly involved and partner with iwi, but it doesn’t really articulate how iwi is going to work with us. It’s a somewhat one-sided relationship. “
MARK TAYLOR / Stuff
Dave Macpherson: “I think we need a culture change across New Zealand Aotearoa.” (File photo)
Cr Dave Macpherson said he hoped the document would be the beginning of a period of profound cultural enlightenment for Hamiltonians.
“Two hundred years ago, the local Maori owned this whole area, that’s what they are bringing to this debate. It is their land. We landed on it and even the Raupatu [Claims Settlement with Waikato-Tainui] in the 1990s it was the modern version of a blanket and musket.
“I hope it ends in some street name changes and some other cosmetic stuff like that, but I hope more, for there to be a more important change.
“I think we need a culture change throughout New Zealand Aotearoa. Not just hiring a few more Maori street names or managers. It has to be much more than that. “
The document had initially been called the Maori Strategy, but as community committee chair Mark Bunting observed, “It was called the 1840s. They wanted their name back. So we changed it. “
“Now it is the pillar of all good things. Nowhere in the title does it say “All good things only to Maori.” It’s inclusive … The result will be a better community, as a whole.
“When the tide rises, all the boats rise. Unless they’re tied too tightly to the dock. “
Cr Margaret Forsyth lamented the “invisible” role of women in the document.
“I hope we get a real sample of feedback and not just the regular players, the regular stakeholders.”
Public consultation on A living breath will start in early 2021.
