Hello and welcome to my first column of the 52nd Parliament. Thank you for re-electing me as your Member of Parliament. I’m really proud of the progress we have made in the Bay over the past 3 years and am humbled to have the opportunity to continue working hard with you and for you to ensure Tauranga remains a city we are proud to call home.
We have some exciting times ahead of us with major infrastructure projects starting to take shape – and more in the pipeline. At the time of writing this column we are still waiting on 384,000 special votes to be counted before we have an accurate lay of the land. Once this is revealed we will have a better idea of what our next government will look like.
During the course of the campaign I had the opportunity to engage in a number of conversations in our community in public meetings, on street corners and on your doorsteps. A number of you highlighted some concern regarding the possible involvement of 11 new iwi on the Tauranga Moana Governance Group. I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this is not the case.
The framework allows for four seats for Tauranga Moana, one seat for iwi of Hauraki and any other iwi with recognised interests in the Tauranga Moana catchment, and five seats for local government. This is a reflection of a Waitangi Tribunal decision from 2004 that confirmed that iwi of Hauraki have customary interests in Tauranga Moana, particularly in the Te Puna-Katikati area.
I look forward to seeing you out and about in the community,
By Todd Muller
MP for Bay of Plenty
I write for Bay Waka because with a circulation of 18,000, it’s a great way to engage with our community.
