Reading: 935 pages
Hours in meetings: 16 hours
Three full days of meetings this week.
Komiti Maori involved travelling to Lake Okataina where we met at Nga Pumanawa e Waru o Te Arawa Marae.
Komiti Maori is the most travelled of committees and usually takes the day by the time travelling time is involved. Typically we receive a report of Māori related matters and hear presentations from various parties.
This week we heard from Ngati Rongomai Iwi Trust which has a goal to protect areas of interest to Ngati Rongomai today and into the future.
Te Tari o Te Tokotoru o Manawatkotoko is an environmental hub and we heard a submission to the Long term Plan. In common with Ngati Rongomai there is a plea for consultation and involvement which would represent genuine partnership.
Finally, we heard from the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group who have an ambitious goal to restore the quality of water in the catchment, particularly by encouraging water to flow along its natural courses.
Also, this week we had workshops on Public Transport and on our Freshwater Policy programme. The latter is in flux due to the changing legislation at Central Government level not only for fresh water but also around farming and forestry. I am sure this will become more involved as the year progresses.