How to make a submission on the TMA’s draft operational plan and budget 2024-25
We are encouraging as many people as possible to make submissions to Auckland Council and Tūpuna Maunga Authority regarding the Authority’s draft annual operational plan and budget 2024-25. While it may be tempting to think “why bother, they never seem to listen” it is vital to keep having your say. Because, if you don’t, then they can claim nobody cares about the trees.
Making a submission does not have to be time-consuming or difficult. As you can see from our own submission below, we have kept this year’s one short and very focused. Please avoid directly copying our wording and instead put it into your own words. The most important points to make are as follows:
1. You do not support ratepayers’ money being used to fell healthy mature trees on Auckland’s maunga.
2. You are requesting the Authority’s annual operational plans and budgets are transparent about how much of the “vegetation restoration” budget is assigned to planting, and how much is assigned to felling. See below for a screenshot of that budget line, and a brief explanation.
Send your submission to the following two places by 11:59 pm on Thursday 28 March:
1. Auckland Council via this link It will show up as the Ten Year plan, but you can still use that link to submit on the TMA’s annual operational plan and budget.
2. Tūpuna Maunga Authority via this email address
Please also contact your local ward councillor and share your submission and thoughts with them. See here for their contact details.
Read the plan (and hints for avoiding the waffle)
Click here if you want to read Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s Draft Operational Plan and Budget 2024-25. As you will see, it covers far more than vegetation “restoration”. It’s a long document at 87 pages, but never fear; it’s easy to avoid the waffle and get to the important bits. Here are some tips:
Pages 1-16 are introductory waffle.
Pages 17-31 contain the important plan and budget information at a maunga network level.
Pages 32-85 indicate what will be done at each individual maunga and is presented in table format, which makes for quick reading. If you have an interest in a particular maunga then simply scroll down to it to read the two-three pages of tabular information see what is planned there.
Honour the Maunga's submission
We submitted the following to both Auckland Council and the TMA:
Honour the Maunga does NOT support Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s draft 2024-25 Operational Plan and Budget’s “vegetation restoration” programme’s intention to rid Ōwairaka and other maunga of non-native trees.
We request the “vegetation restoration” programme’s budget is transparent around expenditure on a) tree felling and; b) vegetation planting.
We request that both Tūpuna Maunga Authority (TMA) and Auckland Council show integrity in their public consultation processes given that consultations on the TMA’s Integrated Management Plan amendments and the TMA’s annual operational plan and budget routinely attract around 94% (plus or minus 2%) of submissions stating they do not support the non-native trees to being felled.
We also note the Authority and Council have been subject to two judicial reviews initiated by members of the public who are concerned about the tree felling. This indicates the depth of public feeling against the tree felling aspect of the vegetation restoration programme.
The TMA’s plans to rid Auckland’s maunga of non-native trees is a highly unpopular and divisive action as shown by public protests, two judicial reviews, around 2000 submissions over the past four years, and the high degree of public negativity towards the Authority. We call upon the 2024-25 annual operational plan and budget to be amended to delete references to / budget for felling healthy mature trees and to instead divert those funds into positive, unifying and constructive activities.
The comments we make in this submission also apply to Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s ten-year plan and budget.
We would like to give an oral submission.
Here's what we mean by the "vegetation restoration" budget line
Despite repeated requests from various ward councillors, Tūpuna Maunga Authority has thus far refused to provide a breakdown of what proportion of its “vegetation restoration programme” budget will be used for planting and what proportion is earmarked for tree-felling. As you can see in the budget excerpt to the left, a lump sum is given.
Transparency around felling vs planting is important so then the ward councillors who care about saving the trees can make an informed decision about what it is they are voting for when it comes to considering the TMA’s annual (and 10-year) budgets.
We say it’s about time the Mayor and ward councillors stood up to the TMA’s stonewalling and refused to consider the draft operational plan and budget unless this information is provided.
