The appointment of Ms Kelly was endorsed and formalised at yesterday's meeting of Te Kaunihera o Pōneke - the City Council.
Mayor Andy Foster has welcomed Ms Kelly to the Council. “Liz will assist the work of committees by helping ensure whānau-centred thinking and solutions and strength-based mātauranga Māori approaches are adopted and applied to committee processes and decision making, including providing the perspectives of Ngāti Toa to the relevant committee.
“It also helps greatly that she’s got extensive experience as a local politician – Liz will hit the ground running – which is good for all of us.”
Councillor Jill Day, who has led the campaign to increase Māori representation on the City Council, says Ms Kelly’s appointment “acknowledges our collective commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As a dynamic and capable wāhine, Liz Kelly will bring much wisdom and life experience to the table and I’m looking forward to working with her.”
Liz Kelly said, I’m humbled to be appointed to this role representing Ngāti Toa and look forward to building new relationships, mā pango, mā whero, ka tutuki pai ai ngā mahi, essentially working together to achieve our goals.
The Council agreed on 10 April to appoint one mana whenua representative each from Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira to all committees and subcommittees, except the CEO Performance Review Committee.
The mana whenua representatives will have full voting rights and each iwi will be paid for the contribution of their representatives - equivalent to the remuneration of a full-time elected Council member.
The recruitment of Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika’s representative will be completed in July in preparation for the Council meeting on 26 August.
In May the Council also voted to create a Māori ward which would come into effect for the 2022 local elections.
The proposal contributes towards satisfying the Council’s legislative obligations to enable democratic local decision-making, to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities in the present and for the future and to provide opportunities for and foster the capacity of Māori to contribute to decision-making processes.
The proposal also gives effect to the provisions of the MOU with mana whenua which anticipates that the Council will have a strategic relationship with mana whenua, providing the opportunity for mana whenua to contribute to Council decision-making and to provide leadership with the Council for the city.