One flag for all Te Arawa | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Rotorua District Council may ask Te Arawa to supply a new flag for the tribal confederation that represents about 40,000 people.

Yesterday, members of Rotorua District Council's Te Arawa Standing Committee recommended the council make the request for a flag, which will fly next to the New Zealand flag on the council's Civic Centre for Waitangi Day from 2013 onwards.

The committee, after much debate, recommended the tino rangatiratanga flag be flown next year. It also asked for the flags belonging to each individual hapu of Te Arawa to be flown on lamp posts along Fenton St. It is understood there could be up to 30 different flags belonging to Te Arawa iwi.

The committee also recommended to the council that the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the standing committee be elected by committee members at their first hui immediately after their election, every three years.

Standing committee member Roku Mihinui outlined to the committee some of the background, in particular the recommendations that came out of a hui-a-iwi held in October.

Both the committee and council have previously decided against flying the tino rangatiratanga flag on council buildings.

Iwi representative Rene Mitchell said she had received numerous objections.

"I have been inundated with calls and I'm very unhappy for the tino rangatiratanga flag to be flown." She said she would be more than happy for a new Te Arawa flag to be made up.

Councillor and standing committee member Maureen Waaka also voted against the recommendation.

Rotorua deputy mayor and standing committee member Trevor Maxwell spoke in favour of the recommendation.

In particular, he was all for a new flag and said it would not be a problem.

"It would be the easiest thing to do. We've got plenty of notice and we should be able to get agreement on a new flag."

There was good support for Te Arawa iwi/hapu to be invited to fly their flags along Fenton St. Mr Maxwell said they probably wouldn't fly their normal flags - usually raised during tangihanga - but envisaged new, smaller flags would be made.

Iwi representative Potaua Biasiny-Tule raised the issue on who was to cover the costs of the new flags but the matter was left unresolved.

The third recommendation was a call from Te Arawa for more control of their council committee.

Standing committee member Kingi Biddle said last week he believed the intention of those at the hui was to empower the standing committee and give them more of a say.

"We are not saying the mayor should not be chair but we are allowing everyone to have a say about who the chair should be."

Mr Maxwell said elected members would have to fill those roles in order to present the committee's recommendations to council.