Role of advisory panels

To ensure the Auckland Council can ensure effective engagement with all communities in Auckland, several specific advisory groups are to be established.

Māori representation and participation

A board of up to nine members is to be established which will represent mana whenua and mataawaka of Tamaki Makaurau. The board members will be appointed by a selection body comprising representatives of manu whenua groups.

The members of the board, who will be appointed on or before 1 November, will promote and provide advice to Auckland Council on issues of significance for mana whenua and mataawaka of Tamaki Makaurau. It will also help the council act in accordance with statutory provisions referring to the Treaty of Waitangi.

It will be independent of the council and will appoint a maximum of two people as members to sit on Auckland Council committees that deal with the management and stewardship of natural and physical resources. The council can also invite the board to appoint a person or persons to other committees. The board will meet with the Auckland Council at least four times a year, to discuss the board’s performance of its functions.

Pacific People’s Advisory Panel and Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel

By 31 March 2011 the Mayor of Auckland Council must establish and appoint members to a Pacific People’s Advisory Panel and Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel, both of which will exist until 1 November 2013.

The role of the panels is to identify and communicate to the council the interests and preferences of their respective people regarding the council’s strategies, policies, plans and bylaws, and on any other matters the panels consider to be of interest to their respective people. The panels will also advise the council on the most appropriate ways to engage with Pacific and ethnic people.

The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs must develop, in consultation with the Auckland Transition Agency, proposals relating to the establishment of the Pacific People’s Advisory Panel.

The Auckland Transition Agency must develop, in consultation with the Secretary of Internal Affairs, proposals in relation to the Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel.

Both proposals must be available for the mayor’s consideration on his or her election.