Appendix 2: About the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority

Principles for effectively co-governing natural resources.

Type of arrangement

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority is a statutory authority under the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014.

Description

As part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement, 14 Tūpuna Maunga (ancestral mountains) were returned to the 13 Mana Whenua iwi and hapū of Auckland:

  • Matukutūruru/Wiri Mountain;
  • Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill;
  • Maungarei/Mount Wellington;
  • Maungawhau/Mount Eden;
  • Maungauika/North Head;
  • Ōwairaka/Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura/Mount Albert;
  • Ōhinerau/Mount Hobson;
  • Ōhuiarangi/Pigeon Mountain;
  • Ōtāhuhu/Mount Richmond;
  • Pukewīwī/Puketāpapa/Mount Roskill;
  • Rarotonga/Mount Smart;
  • Te Kōpuke/Tītīkōpuke/Mount St John;
  • Takarunga/Mount Victoria; and
  • Te Tātua a Riukiuta/Big King.

The Department of Conservation administers Maungauika/North Head. Auckland Council manages and administers Rarotonga/Mount Smart. The Crown still owns the land of Māngere Mountain and part of Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill but both are administered by the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority for the purposes of the Reserves Act 1977.

Background

The Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014 transferred ownership of the 14 Tūpuna Maunga to Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau (the collective group of the 13 iwi and hapū of Auckland).

In February 2010, a framework agreement was drafted. In December 2012, a Redress Deed was signed by the Crown and the Tāmaki Makaurau Collective. In August 2014, the legislation came into effect. In September 2014, the first Authority hui was held.

Auckland Council was heavily involved in negotiations between the Crown and iwi. This was because, when the claim was settled, Auckland Council would be responsible for putting parts of the settlement into effect.

Purpose

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority was set up to co-govern the Tūpuna Maunga (the Maunga returned to iwi and hapū) as the administering body under the Reserves Act. The Authority also administers the two Maunga retained in Crown ownership, under the Reserves Act.

The governance arrangement reflects the value of the Maunga to mana whenua and others. The Maunga are held in trust for the common benefit of the iwi/hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and for other Aucklanders.

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority has a statutory purpose that emphasises the value of the Maunga to the iwi and hapū of Auckland. In exercising its powers and functions, the Authority must have regard to the spiritual, ancestral, customary, and historical significance of the Maunga and administered lands to Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau.

The Authority may also recognise any economic development aspirations that iwi might have.

The Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014 conferred powers and function on the Authority. This includes a power or function that the Minister of Conservation has delegated to all local authorities under section 10 of the Reserves Act 1977. One person told us:

Co-governance is decision-making and this is a strong focus for the Authority. It's good, and something that we haven't had before.

Appointment and composition of membership

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority has six members who represent the 13 iwi and hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, six members appointed by Auckland Council, and one non-voting representative of the Crown. The 13 iwi and hapū have been grouped into three rōpū, which each appoint two members to the Authority. The rōpū are:

  • Marutūāhu Rōpū − Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Whanaunga, and Te Patukirikiri;
  • Ngāti Whātua Rōpū − Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua; and
  • Waiohua Tāmaki Rōpū − Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Tamaoho, Ngāti Te Ata, Te Ākitai Waiohua, and Te Kawerau ā Maki.

The chairperson must be appointed by the rōpū entities. The deputy chairperson must be appointed by Auckland Council.

Accountability and transparency

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority does not report to Parliament. However, it must prepare an annual report for each financial year, which includes the dates and times of the Authority's meetings in the financial year and a summary of the Authority's activities in the financial year. The Authority may also include other relevant information at its own discretion. The report must be made publicly available.

The funding and revenue of the Authority are held by Auckland Council and must be accounted for separately from other funding revenue or other income of Auckland Council.

Auckland Council must report every three months to the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority on the costs, funding, and revenue of the Maunga.

Auckland Council must also provide to the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority an annual financial report on the Maunga.

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority may ask that Auckland Council's auditor review the Council's accounts relating to the Maunga to provide public confidence.

The Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority has a webpage hosted by and within Auckland Council's website. It provides some information including:

  • meeting times, agenda, and minutes;
  • the importance and history of the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority and the Maunga; and
  • the settlement legislation.

The Authority will eventually have its own website, independent from the Council.

Achievements

The Authority is still working on how it will report against its goals. One indicator they are using to measure how they are protecting and enhancing the environment of the Maunga is how many pests, such as rabbits and possums, have been killed or removed.

The Authority is also working on other indicators to measure how the Authority is giving effect to its other purpose of recognising the significant spiritual, ancestral, customary, and historical values of the Maunga to iwi – for example, how iwi's mana whenua is recognised through the governance and management of the Maunga. One measure of success will be when mana whenua are:

… enabled and supported to express their Kaitiakitanga over the Tūpuna Maunga (the intergenerational rights and obligations of Mana Whenua to care for the Tūpuna Maunga), and to address the previous cultural and physical separation between Mana Whenua and Tūpuna Maunga.

Staff think another measure of success for what the Authority is trying to achieve will be when the Maunga are referred to in the media as Maunga, not volcanic cones. Another measure of success will be how the wider community shows its commitment to the Maunga. One participant said:

I would like to see them revered as really kind of peaceful beautiful places to go to. I want to see the community around them … fighting for the protection of those places.