“I wondered, how I could take it to the opposite of that spectrum of fear and just make it the most outrageously positive idea that we’ve ever seen?”<\/p>\n
Ruka said the fear of co-governance came after years of hostile debate over the Treaty of Waitangi.<\/p>\n
“It’s framed with antagonism and people are scared of it\u2026 Because we’ve seen generations of rightful protest, the P\u0101keh\u0101 mind wants to back away from that, because nobody wants to sign up to antagonism.<\/p>\n
“It’s received by the majority of New Zealand through the lens of loss: We’re missing out, we’re losing.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--S8SIhOrt--\/c_scale,f_auto,q_auto,w_576\/v1661378546\/4LMI5FZ_Alternative_LDR_logo_PNG\"){kind=logo}
<\/div>\nBut Ruka said understanding the story behind co-governance and the Treaty could bring a sense of maung\u0101rongo (peace) to people.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to speak to that wairua, understand that wairua, how people have built up a defence mechanism in themselves.”<\/p>\n
“They’ll come away with the idea that co-governance is the best of the P\u0101keh\u0101 imagination and the best of the indigenous M\u0101ori imagination. What a win it is for our land if those two imaginations are working together.”<\/p>\n
Co-governance is an arrangement to share decision-making between central or local government and other stakeholders – in this case iwi or hap\u016b.<\/p>\n
In many cases it is about managing natural resources, often with particular attention to cultural and environmental impacts.<\/p>\n
Co-governance is also often a label used where co-management is perhaps a more accurate term, when councils and M\u0101ori collaborate to operate a public amenity or service or put a policy into practice.<\/p>\n
Councils are increasingly utilising co-governance to meet their legislated Treaty obligations, but it has become a political hot potato, especially in the\u00a0lead-up to October’s election<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ruka said the first session at the cathedral would focus on why the Crown wanted a Treaty and why M\u0101ori were interested in signing it.<\/p>\n Debbie Ngarewa-Packer\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The following week would look at the Te Reo and English versions of the Treaty and arguments that British sovereignty was not monolithic.<\/p>\n “Who is the sovereign of England right now? The king. Who exercises sovereignty? Parliament. So, there’s shared sovereignty within the Westminster system at the moment.”<\/p>\n New Plymouth’s first M\u0101ori ward councillor would speak in the third week, along with Puna Wano-Bryant and the cathedral’s priest Dan Lander, who both pushed for the ward as part of Rongomau Community Action.<\/p>\n The final week would feature Taranaki election candidates: Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader and MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, New Plymouth Labour MP Glen Bennett, and National candidate and former Taranaki Regional Council chairman David MacLeod.<\/p>\n “We’re going to have a conversation about their aspirations, their considerations, about what does co-governance mean to them now – what could it look like for them in the next 50 years?<\/p>\n “I’ll keep it away from a political debate, I want it to be a session of imagination – but we’ll see how that goes because it’s one month from the election.”<\/p>\n![\"Debbie](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--yyxi99zW--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_576\/v1683600354\/4L99XAC_230509_5_jpg\")
![\"Roadshow](\"https:\/\/rnz-ressh.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/s--7j5So01h--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1679692525\/4LBLM2H_A_PD1303NADBATCHELOR1_scaled_jpg\")
<\/p>\n