Thursday, 20 May 2021, 1:35 pm
Waikato District Council has voted to establish Maaori
wards for the 2022 and 2025 local authority elections. Mayor
Allan Sanson says that today’s historic decision builds on
Waikato District Council’s commitment to strengthening the
Maaori voice and role in Council decision
making.
“In 2019 we created full-voting committee
member roles called Maangai Maaori on our three principal
standing committees. This has been hugely successful,” he
says.
“Over recent years we have consistently built
stronger and closer working relationships with our Iwi
partners. This decision today for us, as a local authority
in the heart of the Kiingitanga, is simply the next logical
Clean Sweep for Maaori Wards in Waikato 20 May 2021 15:54 PM
Author: Waikato Tainui
20 May 2021
Waikato District Council has today followed in the footsteps of its surrounding councils by introducing Maaori wards in time for the 2022 local body elections.
Te Whakakitenga o Waikato chair Parekawhia McLean says this is a significant result because it provides for a Maaori voice on all local government bodies in our wider region.
“I want to celebrate the positive outcome today and the courage of councillors to do the right thing. This council is located at Ngaaruwaahia which is also the stronghold of Kiingitanga and so it makes sense for its leadership to provide a Maaori perspective at the decision-making table,” she says.
Mood change brings Māori wards waateanews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from waateanews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wednesday, 19 May 2021, 10:09 am
Houses in the small Waikato town of Meremere now have a
very distinguishing feature – house numbers!
House numbers are
important to Meremere as the township doesn’t have
letterboxes. This means emergency services rely on house
numbers for location, but around half of the homes don’t
have house numbers, or at least not ones that are easy to
see or read.
Toi Ako Artspace from nearby Te
Kauwhata have led the Meremere Street Number Project in
partnership with Meremere local artist Melysa Tapiata over
the past two months. The project was funded by a donation
from Waikato District Council’s Te Kauwhata Community
Tuesday, 18 May 2021, 4:01 pm
The launch of a $16 million restoration works programme
yesterday at Taniwha Marae was “collaboration at its
finest”.
Representatives from the Government
(Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Ministry
for the Environment, Ministry for Primary Industries, Te Uru
Rākau, the Department of Conservation), Waikato-Tainui,
Waikato River Authority, Waikato Regional Council, Waikato
District Council, mana whenua, contractors and landowners
all got together for a blessing of four environmental
restoration and climate resilience projects for the lower
Waikato catchment.
These projects have been made
possible thanks to funding from the Government’s COVID-19
recovery package, with extra funding also provided by