The Otara Papatoetoe, Mangere Otahuhu, and Manurewa Local Boards, and Mana Whenua representatives (The Roopu) agreed at a hui held Tuesday 28 January 2016 that for the purpose of improving Maori Input into Local Board decision making they would focus their collaborative efforts on members registered with each of the Mana Whenua Iwi within the rohe of the three Local Board areas represented.

A further distinction of the terms 'members registered' and 'Mana Whenua Iwi' was agreed at a hui held Monday 02 May 2016. In the context of "who we serve" -

"Members registered" means - the members of local Mana Whenua who currently reside in one of the local Board areas and are recognised and listed as Mana Whenua, with and by a Mana Whenua Iwi group.

"Mana Whenua Iwi" means - The Mana Whenua Iwi groups who possess a footprint i.e. Marae, Urupa, Business entity, resident in one of the local Board areas.

Originally Agreed Client Population:

“All Mana Whenua Iwi members registered with each of the Mana Whenua Iwi situated within the rohe of the three Local Board areas represented - Otara-Papatoetoe, Mangere-Otahuhu, Manurewa (and Papakura)“

Since the group's original agreement of their client population, it was noted that there are Mana Whenua iwi and Mana Whenua entities also who reside outside the three Local Board areas rightly possessing a level of interest in the rohe. It was raised however that the views and decision making authority of Mana Whenua groups and their memberships who are both resident, and demonstrate an active foot print should not be unfairly displaced by larger or more resourceful (non-resident) Mana Whenua individuals or entities. This led to a call about sharpening the definition to protect both local Mana Whenua entities and their registered members who are resident within the three local board areas concerned.

For the purposes of the discussion Mana Whenua were categorised in the following ways:

• Roopu 1 - by residency – their home base is in one of the local board areas
• Roopu 2 - by interest - those that have interest in the LB areas but no residency
• Roopu 3 - by constituency - those with no interest or residency but have constituency within the LB areas

Residency was described as demonstrating a footprint where:

• Mana Whenua Entity have in the area
  • Marae, urupa
  • Home base
  • Business operating
  • Schools, Wananga
• Mana Whenua member (registered to Mana Whenua Entity)
  • Reside in one of the three Local Board areas

The rights of all registered members of each of the Roopu groups listed are acknowledged, but with greater consideration and focus applied to the registered members of Mana Whenua who are residents of the area. The purpose of this distinction is that it is this group most likely to be directly affected by any decisions made about them and the rohe within which they currently reside.

Thus changing the client group to:

Our Client Population is:

“All resident Mana Whenua members who are registered with a Mana Whenua entity also resident, and demonstrating a footprint within the rohe of the three Local Board areas represented - Otara-Papatoetoe, Mangere-Otahuhu, Manurewa”

What does Māori input in Local Board decision-making look like?

• More Māori voting
• More Māori on boards
• More volunteers - more Māori engaged and helping
• More enrolled Māori voters
• More Māori standing for the Local Board
• Better information from Māori into Local Board impact statements
• Meeting with Mana Whenua more regularly face to face
• Relationship agreements
• Māori attending Local Board workshops