Regional councils’ relationships with iwi and hapu for freshwater management – a follow-up report

The purpose of this follow-up work was to see what progress Waikato Regional Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council, and Environment Southland have made to work with iwi and hapū to strengthen their relationships for managing freshwater quality.

All four regional councils have made progress in their relationships with iwi and hapū. However, councils could still do more to support more enduring and meaningful relationships.

The Council has continued to work with many iwi and hapū to manage freshwater quality. Several iwi and hapū representatives told us that these relationships were mostly strong. However, other iwi representatives told us their engagements with the Council needed to be more meaningful.

We saw some improvements in the trust and confidence iwi and hapū have in their relationships with the Council. However, the Council still needs to do more to develop a strategic approach to building relationships.

The Council is working to be more responsive to the ways that different iwi and hapū operate. However, the Council needs to take a more strategic and consistent approach to building relationships with iwi and hapū that is more responsive to the ways that different iwi and hapū want to work.

The foundations built from long-standing personal relationships between the Environment Southland and Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku have created the conditions for enduring and meaningful relationships. This results in more effective freshwater management.