1. New Plymouth District Council Local Purposes (Waitara Lands) Bill Overview Presentation

2. The Bill you submitted on:
Freed the restrictions on how the NPDC and TRC could spend the proceeds from leases and freeholding the leased land;
Created one Statutory Board, the Waitara Community Board to spend all of NPDC’s proceeds;
The Board would have 2 Te Atiawa members on it:
- Could not appoint its own chair – this was appointed by the Council;
NPDC would return:
- 13 ha of developable land at Brown Road;
- 30 ha of reserve land transferred (with joint management but Council paying all admin costs of the reserve); and
- 40 ha of Right of First Refusal Land.
The Bill I’m going to give you an overview today is very different to the Bill that first went to Parliament, and that we submitted on back in February when the Māori Affairs Select Committee came to this marae to hear us in February. They heard that we were not happy and sent their adviser to work with the Councils to see if the Bill could be improved. This is the list of things that the old Bill did – I don’t propose to spend much time going over them, but basically, to a large degree, it let the Councils do whatever they want with the proceeds of the sales of the endowment land. They were transferring some land to us, but much of it is reserve land, which means we cannot do anything with that land, although it will be good for us to have it back.

3. The Bill you submitted on:
The TRC provisions said that the TRC would spend all of its proceeds in Waitara and if it could not, it could spend them in the wider Taranaki region.
There was no transparency or clarity about how its spending at Waitara work, what projects would get priority or how it would decide when it couldn’t spend the money.

4. How the money from land sales is split:
Endowment land is sold.
The proceeds of the sale:
(50%):
New Plymouth District Council
(50%):
Taranaki Regional Council
The key thing to think about when looking at the Bill is that when endowment land is sold, the two councils split the money 50/50. This was the same in the original Bill, and is the same in this Bill. But that’s about the only thing that’s still the same from the last Bill. This Bill then deals with what each Council does with the money very differently.

5. NPDC and TRC proceeds at a glance:
Endowment land is sold, lease money is collected.
The proceeds of the sale and leases:
(50% of total proceeds):
New Plymouth District Council
(50% of total proceeds):
Taranaki Regional Council
(50% of NPDC’s proceeds):
Waitara Community Fund
(100% of TRC’s proceeds)
Waitara River Authority
(70% whole river
30% lower Waitara river and Waitara).
Here is an overview of how the Bill disperses the money.
You will see the top half of this slide is the same picture as the previous slide – so 50% to each council. Then this is what each Council will do with each of the money.
So the NPDC – splits the money in two and creates two funds. The funds each receive 50% of NPDC’s share, which means 25% of the total money collected through the Bill.
The TRC puts all it’s money into one pot, with a couple of dividers in it – all into the Waitara River, overseen by one joint Committee, but with different amounts it can allocate to the two different parts of the River.
I will go into each Council’s bit of the Bill in a minute.
(50% of NPDC’s proceeds):
Hapū Land Fund

6. This version of the Bill:
Enables the land the Council is transferring, to go to a Hapū entity or Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa.
Enables the Council to purchase land for hapū/iwi.
Creates a second fund, the Waitara Hapū Land Fund and a committee to decide how the fund will be spent.
The fund is for the: purchase, development, management of land for benefit of Waitara hapū.
The committee that operates the fund is made up of four people – two people from each hapū. It has all decision making delegated to it so that it can determine how money should be spent.
The Statutory Board then must carry out the determinations. It cannot disagree with the HLFC (unless the committee breaches the Council’s standing orders or code of conduct or the law).
This version of the Bill does a number of things differently – it is a substantial change.
First of all, while keeping the original Waitara Community Board from the first Bill, it cuts down the amount of money it was to receive by half and gives it to a new committee, called the Waitara Hapu Land Committee. This Committee is entirely made up of representatives from Manukorihi and Otaraua, and we get autonomy about how the money is spent, provided it’s for the purchase, development or management of land for the benefit of the Waitara hapū. (The bill talks a lot about the Waitara hapū – that means Manukorihi and Otaraua.)

7. Waitara Statutory Board: Waitara Community Fund (50%):
NPDC:
-Establishes the Waitara Community Fund and the Hapū Land Committee Fund
Empowers the Hapū Land Fund Committee
- Administers the scheme of Annual Releases from Waitara Community Fund
Waitara Statutory Board:
- Established and empowered by statute
- Council members and Trustees are the members
 It:
- Distributes $ from Hapū Land Fund in accordance with determinations of HLF Committee 
- Determines and distributes from Annual Releases from Waitara Community Fund
The Funds:
Waitara Community Fund (50%):
- Benefit of Waitara community or any part of community.
- Perpetual fund (only the interest can be spent).
Hapū Land Fund (50%):
Purchase, development, management of land for benefit of Waitara hapū.
Not perpetual (principal may be spent).
How the NPDC side of things will work:
Now this diagram looks crazy but is actually quite simple. Basically, the NPDC creates two funds with its share of the money from freeholding the endowment lands. Half goes to the Waitara Community Fund (this is overseen by the Board I said was in the original version of the Bill) and half to the Hapu Land Fund (overseen by the Hapu Land Fund Committee).
The Bill creates the Waitara Statutory Board – this is a board created by law, so can’t be gotten rid of at a whim by the Council. The Bill also protects the Hapu Land Fund Committee, and gives the very precise terms in which it can be gotten rid of – basically, it is that there is no income for two years (income means land sales and leases). It will be a good many years before the Council receives either no lease money or money from selling the land.
And, as I said earlier, the Hapu Land Fund Committee has no council people on it telling it what to do – the stat board is a 50/50 mix Council appointees and Te Atiawa, but the Land Fund Committee is only the Waitara Hapu.
Hapū Land Fund Committee:
- 2 members of each Waitara hapū
- It is a committee of Waitara Stat Board
Determine amounts and purposes of distributions from Hapū Land Fund.

8. This version of the Bill:
Creates a committee for the health and management of the Waitara River. All of TRC’s proceeds from the leases or freeholding will go to this committee.
The Committee is made up of all the iwi that have mana whenua over the river, stretching from Te Atiawa at the mouth, to Ngati Maniapoto (if they choose) at the top.
It is a joint committee – equal number of TRC people to iwi.
This is a FIRST – the committee makes determinations not recommendations.
30% of the TRC proceeds are ringfenced for the lower Waitara catchment (which is approximately at the Te Atiawa/Ngati Maru boundary) and the Waitara township.
Waitara hapu are on a subcommittee that makes recommendations to the joint committee about how the 30% should be used.
The joint committee must have particular regard for what the hapū subcommittee recommend.
If they don’t do what the hapū subcommittee recommend, they have to do a lot of extra consultation etc.

9. Taranaki Reginal Council
- Establishes and empowers Waitara River Committee
- Applies money in accordance with Committee determinations
Waitara River Committee
TRC and Waitara River Authorities (iwi) – 50/50 membership.
Determinations on expenditure:
Health and well-being of Waitara River (70%)
 (“to determine the amounts and purposes of distributions of 70 percent of the TRC income toward the restoration, protection, and enhancement of the environmental, cultural, and spiritual health and well-being of the Waitara River”)
Matters in Waitara or lower catchment of river (30%)
particular regard to recommendations of subcommittee
Subcommittee
- 2 members of each Waitara hapū
Recommendations on the 30% portion of expenditure
So this is what the Regional Council will do with the proceeds of the sale. The Bill creates a Waitara River Committee and subcommittee. The Committee is a joint committee – 50% Council and 50% iwi with Mana Whenua in the River. In a first ever in New Zealand, the Council has given this joint committee COMPLETE autonomy. Most joint committees are recommendations at best. The Committee looks after two funds made up of all of the Regional Council’s proceeds from endowment land sales and leases. The first fund, which is 70% of the proceeds from sales is for the whole Waitara River. The Bill states (and forgive the tiny writing on the slide) in clause 25B (1) (a) that the Committee’s purpose is to: “determine the amounts and purposes of distributions of 70 percent of the TRC income toward the restoration, protection, and enhancement of the environmental, cultural, and spiritual health and well-being of the Waitara River.” The Committee’s second purpose is (and forgive me for not putting it on the slide, there wasn’t enough space!) at 25B (1) (b) is: “to determine the amounts and purposes of distributions of 30 percent of the TRC income toward any matter in Waitara or in the lower catchment of the Waitara River that is within the role and responsibilities of TRC under the Local Government Act 2002.”
This means the Committee can spend 70% of the money on the whole river, with a very wide definition. The final 30% is to be ringfenced for the Lower Waitara River catchment and Waitara town. It must be used within the Regional Council’s legal responsibilities. The Committee does make the decision on the 30%. But it does need to take the recommendations of the subcommittee (again made up of 2 members from each of the Manukorihi and Otaraua hapū) seriously. The Bill also has a long list of things the Committee must do at 25B (4) if it doesn’t want to follow the recommendations of the hapū.

10. Leaseholders’ Rights
Part 3 of the Bill discusses how leaseholders or others may freehold the land.
Part 3, clause 19 (3) notes: The right of the lessee is to be treated as a term of the lease and survives any sale of the fee simple interest by the Council or any other person.
So: for the first 15 months after the Bill becomes law, the leaseholders have the right to purchase the land and not pay the Council’s costs. The land is valued at the cost of the unimproved land.
Section 21 discusses the process the leaseholder follows to purchase the freehold land.
The Council must discuss the sale with Te Kotahitanga or the Waitara Hapū if selling to other than the leasee.
Part 3 of the Bill discusses how things will work for leaseholders and what their rights are.
Most importantly, for the first 15 months after the Bill becomes law, the leaseholders have the right to purchase the land without the cost of
There are a few caveats around whether a different price can be negotiated – clauses 21 (3) and subsection 2 discuss this in more detail. Clause 20 (5) notes that the Council has the right to make the leaseholder pay any back arrears if lease payments aren’t up to date.
Section 21 details what the leaseholder does – writes to the Council basically notifying of the intent to purchase and then, if more than 15 months after the Bill activates the leaseholder foots the bill for any consents or costs incurred by the Council.
Most importantly, the leaseholder’s rights are protected even if they do not purchase the land.

11. Latest developments with the progress of the Bill:
On Wednesday 9 August, the Bill had its second reading.
This was to preserve the changes made since the original Bill was introduced.
Now we need to finish the Bill. This means:
It needs one more reading – it’s third. Before third reading though, it has to go through one more stage - Committee of the Whole House (CoWH). This is the final opportunity to make changes to the Bill. These changes need to be supported by all parties. The changes are made are called a “Supplementary Order Paper” or “SOP”

12. The SOP The SOP would cover:
Waitara River SO Plan showing catchments (upper and lower)
Tax indemnity provisions for HLFC (if Minister of Finance and Minister of Revenue agrees)
Ranfurly Park and Pukekohe Park added to the RFR list (if Minister of Conservation gives agreement).
Anything else coming out of your consultation that the Councils’ agree to.