An appeal for public education about Treaty of Waitangi settlements processes was made during discussion at Tauranga City Council's Tangata Whenua Committee yesterday.

Mayor Stuart Crosby made the call following an address on co-governance and co-management in the Bay of Plenty arising out of the treaty settlements process.

'It's all very well updating us and doing training internally, but I see little evidence connecting to the wider community on really important issues that are going to impact on them.

'The regional council is funded by the Crown to progress some of these. Within that funding is there any allocation for a community engagement strategy to start to build up the bank of knowledge in the wider community around treaty settlement issues.”

A number of elected members have been raising this for some time, says Stuart. The problem can be that if there is a lack of accurate information going out, there is a risk of people making assumptions.

'Because then you are on the back foot.”

Stuart realises a lot of the programmes are at different stages in the settlement process, but he personally wants to see ongoing communication and engagement during the process.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Maori Policy Advisor Matemoana McDonald says the Western BOP District Council tried to raise that issue three years ago, and suggested linking the communications teams of the city council, WBOPDC and regional council, but it didn't get off the ground.

'Some parties weren't ready to embark on that journey, but things have moved forward in the treaty settlement landscape, and I totally agree we should be picking that up again.”

Committee member Maru Tapsell says Maori Affairs Minister Chris Finlayson recently said he's keen to have the Office of Treaty Settlements also taking up that function of explaining the process to the public more.

The question came following a powerpoint presentation from manager of the city council's Takawaenga Maori unit Mererina Murray that outlines how the treaty settlements process is working out through the Bay of Plenty.

There are 95 iwi in New Zealand. In the Bay of Plenty there are more than 35 iwi and 230 hapu, representing 27 per cent of the regional population with 1800 maori land trusts and they hold about $6.6 billion in assets.

'About one third of the tribes are in the BOP region,” says Mererina.

'It means the treaty settlement process in the Bay of Plenty is proceeding differently to other parts of the country.

'It's a really busy region in terms of settlements,” says Mererina.

'With the Government deadline in 2014 to wrap up the claims, I think everyone is struggling a bit.”

In the Tauranga City there are four iwi and about 13 hapu. Three of the four iwi have settled, with Ngai Te Rangi expected to settle this year.

The Western Bay of Plenty has 40-60 hapu including some ‘cross border' hapu from Hauraki and Te Arawa iwi.