Thank you Mayor Drysdale for having the courtesy to reply so promptly to my email – especially as I am not a ratepayer in your constituency.
Here is what Mayor Drysdale said.
`Thanks for your email
I just want to explain a couple of facts regarding the item on the Council agenda next week to be considered regarding Tangata Whenua representatives on standing committees.
Tangata Whenua reps have been on standing committees of the Tauranga City Council since 2016, so this request is status quo
This does not appoint anyone to Council just standing committees, just about every Council in the country has appointed (unelected members) on at least one of their standing committees.
There will be no unelected members on the Council
Legislation requires us to consult with Tangata Whenua on a number of decisions, so having a voice as we discuss issues should help us make better decisions that don’t require as many changes after the fact.
Committees have limited delegations so major decisions will always be made or signed off by Council that only contains elected members.
Out of all the decisions being considered next week, there are plenty that will have a much larger impact on the future of Tauranga than this one.
If agreed the members will be required to have skills and expertise to complement the committee they are on they will likely be paid a per meeting fee, like we do for all appointed people on standing committees. Which is not a significant expense.
Te Manawataki o Te Papa and Dive Cres are good examples of getting better outcomes when we work with collaboratively with Iwi.
This decision will be considered by Council next week and will be democratically decided by the Council.
Hope that helps answer some of your concerns
Mahé’
I have replied thanking him and pointing out that all councils have had notice from the Coalition that the Legislation he refers to in his reply is going to be changed before the next Council elections. This will apply to Tauranga District Council notwithstanding that they have dispensation in that election due to the recent change from Commissioners to elected Councillors.
No Minister 
So a person who may have an ancestor with some Native Maori genetic component is necessary to be consulted by a committee of elected councillors in making a decision by attaining a majority of the councillors in agreement. Oh hang about, that unelected person gets a vote, well, well, well.
What if the vote of an elected councillor representing the voters in their ward and having a greater degree of Maori genetic factor than the anointed one is cancelled by the person claiming a lesser degree of Maori ancestry, gee. it gets complicated though
That will make a decision a better one aye.
In my younger times I was fascinated by arbitrary legal decisions on blood lines under the Nuremberg Race laws and the apartheid laws of South African whites, to a point where arbitrary definitions could be avoided by a miraculous application of favour.
Dr Eduard Bloch, Dr Theo Morrell, ,Dr Weisz, And then there was Rosa and her daughter.
Honorary Aryans? Ha Ha.
Honorary whites, in the republic ?
How such decisions can be promulgated and no one laughs, come in Monty Python!