As a Crown agency, we acknowledge the status of Māori as tangata whenua – the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand – and as partners with the Crown in the Treaty of Waitangi.
As a Crown agency, we:
We strive to build and maintain collaborative working relationships with Māori, and we also work with our colleagues from other government agencies to engage, communicate and to work with Māori.
To achieve these objectives we provide our people with the knowledge and skills to appreciate and understand the Treaty of Waitangi, and Māori language, culture and protocols.
Māori and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, and Te Ara Kotahi (our Māori Strategy)
Hononga Ki Te Iwi (our Māori Engagement Framework)
Engaging with the public is an integral part of our business. It’s part of being a good corporate citizen. For Waka Kotahi, public engagement means both informing the public about proposed projects and decisions that we have made, and consulting with them as part of our decision-making process. We engage with the public in - a variety of ways.
An overview of how we engage with the community and stakeholders from early planning stages through to project delivery is contained in our Public Engagement Guideline. Our engagement guidance is based on the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation.
This involves mainly one-way communication, where we inform people about:
This involves two-way communication – where we inform as above, but also provide the opportunity for people to consider and respond to that information before we make a decision. It’s a process we can introduce at different stages of the decision-making process.
More information on what we are currently consulting upon is here:
This is where we might partner with people in each aspect of the decision making process, including the development of alternatives and the identification of a preferred solution.
In some situations we might place the final decision making in the hands of the public.
We carry out consultation for programmes and projects in line with the specific scope, progress and consultation principles set out in the Land Transport Management Act 2003. For our own activities, we aim to consult on options early on. We also aim to ensure regional transport committees undertake consultation on regional land transport programmes and activities.
Find out more about our engagement and consultation process on the technical discipline pages:
Our public engagement guidelines sets out our rationale, expectations, principles and processes for public engagement as they relate to Waka Kotahi projects:
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency public engagement guidelines
