Organisers of the kaimoana rāhui along the western Taranaki coast will reveal a plan for enforceable hapū reserves to the community this weekend. The combined hapū of Taranaki iwi want the current temporary prohibition on collecting shellfish replaced with mātaitai reserves, which allow legal regulation by mana whenua of particular reefs, spawning grounds and the like. The rāhui (customary closed season) on shellfish began five years ago, when Orimupiko marae placed the first

New Plymouth councillors have told off staff for not talking with mana whenua before taking a council reform proposal to Government. New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) last month sent a proposal to reform Taranaki local government for the Government to consider under its Head Start amalgamation programme. A report to Te Huinga Taumatua’s meeting on Wednesday said the Beehive’s three month deadline had left no time to consult mana whenua. “Engagement with iwi and hapū did no

A new pan-tribal body established under the Taranaki Maunga Treaty settlement is spreading the word of its wider role helping Taranaki iwi work together. The Maunga redress law set up Te Tōpuni Ngārahu as a combined trust of the region’s eight iwi to care for the mountain and recognise tribal relationships with the ancestral peaks. But the pou whakahaere of Te Tōpuni Ngārahu says negotiators deliberately shaped the redress so the governance trust could meet a wider purpose. “

A Taranaki iwi has signed a resource management agreement with its local council despite a looming Government ban on such deals. Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki District Council signed their Mana Whakahono ā Rohe on Wednesday, just ahead of Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms that will nullify the agreement. Since 2017 iwi and councils could negotiate Mana Whakahono ā Rohe to formalise a role for mana whenua in planning and resource management, with a focus on the environme

The two leading contenders for Te Tai Hauāuru electorate have condemned the Government’s local council reforms at a debate in Te Hāwera. About 100 voters filled the Senior Citizens Hall on Thursday night for a debate hosted by Climate Justice Taranaki. Te Tai Hauāuru MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Te Pāti Māori opposed the current local government reforms. She said her starting point to transform councils would be Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “Local government don't recognise it, but

Taranaki’s eight iwi have joined forces to boost enrolment and turnout in November’s election – with musician Stan Walker among those lending support. A slick campaign video has been made for social media, with a focus on TikTok and Instagram, to encourage people to vote, especially rangatahi. It’s been produced by Te Tōpuni Ngārahu, a regional body made up of the eight iwi around the Maunga. The collective’s pou whakahaere Wharehoka Wano said iwi had called for a consistent

Māori council staff say meeting face-to-face is crucial to deal with a turbulent and disruptive shake-up of local government that has weakened mana whenua influence. Taituarā – the organisation for local government officers – meets in New Plymouth this week and Māori council workers arrived early to get their programme underway. Mereana Beconcini, Anaru Wilkie and Gabrielle Paringatai-Lemisio say Māori staff need to back each other through council reforms. Nedine Thatcher-Swa

Taranaki Regional Council has agreed to help build a new management plan for Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki national park. The plan dictates how the former Egmont National Park is protected, restored, accessed and used. It is being created by Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, a board set up under the redress settlement for the confiscation of Taranaki Maunga. The council’s Policy and Planning Committee on Tuesday offered the expertise of council policy staff to assist in shaping the management p

New Plymouth’s Māori ward councillor says two onlookers were aiming to intimidate by filming her in the council chamber. The pair deny they were recording and want their names cleared. Councillor Te Waka McLeod interrupted last Thursday’s meeting to ask Debbie Hancock to stop filming her from the public gallery. McLeod said Hancock – who stood unsuccessfully for council last year – repeatedly pointed a phone towards her, lowering it every time McLeod looked up. New Plymouth D

New Plymouth may consider rates rises as low as two percent as it prioritises spending in its ten-year plan. It would be the first time that impact on rates was a formal factor in New Plymouth District Council’s long term planning. The recommendations from staff come in the same week the Government announced it intends imposing a 4 percent rates cap on councils from 2029. Councillors will consider the new Project Prioritisation Framework on Thursday as part of the 2027-37 pla

Ngāti Ruanui has enlisted a team of rangatahi to boost numbers of younger voters. The South Taranaki iwi says campaigners in their late teens and early twenties can reach young would-be voters in ways older recruiters can’t. Fewer than half of 18-24 year old Māori are enrolled on the general or Māori roll in the Whanganui electorate area, which includes most of Ngāti Ruanui’s rohe. It leaves 1265 eligible local rangatahi missing from the Whanganui or Te Tai Hauāuru rolls. Hoh

Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi is campaigning to boost voter enrolment amongst its members – and the wider community. Fewer than half of 18-24 year old Māori voters are enrolled in the Whanganui electorate, which covers the rohe of Ngaa Rauru. On Thursday the South Taranaki iwi’s settlement entity Te Kaahui o Rauru held its first community drop-in at the Waverley Community Centre to help people get enrolled and participate in the November election. Kaihāpai pōtitanga (electoral support)

After almost a century uniting Taranaki's eight iwi, the Taranaki Māori Trust Board is handing the reins to a new body set up under the region's Maunga Treaty agreement. The Trust Board began in 1930, after the Sim Commission found confiscation of half a million hectares of Māori land in the Taranaki wars was unjust and excessive. Its mantle will be picked up by Te Tōpuni Ngārahu, a body founded by the 2025 Taranaki Maunga Redress Act. Te Tōpuni Ngārahu kaiwhakahaere Wharehok

Struggling, stagnant and facing an uncertain future - that’s the forecast for South Taranaki as it begins a ten-year plan review. By law South Taranaki District Council must renew its long-term plan next year, despite not knowing its fate in the Government’s nationwide council revamp. The council’s proposal to merge with Stratford District Council in 2028 as part of the local government shake-up is in the hands of local government minister Simon Watts. But South Taranaki Dist

The Māori councillors’ organisation has called for the Government to cancel its cull of council-iwi resource management agreements. The Beehive plans to scrap Mana Whakahono ā Rohe deals in Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms currently before Parliament – a move opposed by Local Government New Zealand’s Māori councillors network, Te Maruata. Te Maruata co-chair Dinnie Moeahu said Mana the deals between councils and iwi had been widely misunderstood. "We want to be very clea

New Plymouth is to spend $660,000 to try and influence local council reform, despite not meeting the Beehive’s criteria to take part. The Government has ordered councils to amalgamate to make local government simpler and cheaper. It offered councils a ‘Head Start’ pathway to come up with reform proposals – but demanded bids be backed by at least two district councils. South Taranaki and Stratford councils have agreed on a Head Start merger proposal but rejected the invitation

Two Taranaki councils wanting to merge have set out early details of how they’d work with mana whenua after the Government’s local body reforms. South Taranaki and Stratford district councils unanimously approved a proposal to cabinet to join as one unitary authority, under Wellington’s Head Start process, this week. Taranaki iwi representatives have objected to limited mana whenua input into the rapid reform, especially after a Government reversal decreed Mana Whakahono ā Ro

A South Taranaki hapū has set up an arts, construction and horticulture training centre on land that took a decade to get back, even after a Treaty settlement. Ōkahu-Inuāwai opened Tokaora Te Tapuae Pae Pātūtū on Friday on the site of the former Tokaora School, just outside Hāwera. The new centre has a retail art gallery and training studio, with a conference room for hapū and community use. The site already hosts a house-building course and Ōkahu-Inuāwai plans an expanding h

A call is out for people with a heart for Taranaki Maunga to share their ideas about the future of the mountain and surrounding national park. A new management plan is being written for the protection, access and use of Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki – formerly Egmont National Park. People are asked to contribute what they value most about Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, including important places and experiences, future opportunities, and any concerns that need consideration. Last year’s

South Taranaki and Stratford councils will ask the Government to bless their union – but have spurned neighbouring New Plymouth. Councillors almost unanimously backed a proposal to become one unitary authority, combining district and regional council functions for southern and central Taranaki. Early in May the Government ordered councils to amalgamate, aiming for simpler and cheaper local government. Councils have until August 9 to come up with reform proposals under its Hea