Waipā council ‘got it wrong’ says ministry

The Department of Internal Affairs has taken issue with reporting of Waipā District Council’s position on Māori wards, particularly the statement: “The Department of Internal Affairs advised individual councils would not be able to submit to the select committee.”

It says the information is incorrect and communities and councils will have the opportunity to provide feedback on this legislation during the select committee process. Local Government Minister Simeon Brown stated this in his response to a written parliamentary question on the topic.

The council says while it had received correspondence from the minister in early April saying submissions would be invited to the amendment bill, it was the understanding of staff after a webinar with the Department of Internal Affairs that individual councils would not be able to submit.

It says it was understood from the webinar that any sector feedback would need to come through the two local government professional bodies, Local Government New Zealand and Taituarā.

This is why it was the staff recommendation to the mayor and chief executive of Waipā District Council to confirm its position by writing to the minister.

Council staff thanked the Department of Internal Affairs for providing the clarification that councils and their communities will be able to provide feedback on the legislation during the select committee process and the council will confirm its position by writing to the Minister.

They said if the timeframe between the draft bill being released for feedback and its consideration by the select committee was too short for a submission to be formally adopted by the council, they would request that the content of that letter also be considered as a submission.