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Supporters from all over Kaipara and Rodney celebrated the work of the IKHMG.
The Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group has wound up after 25 years, passing its work on to the newly formed Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) committee.
A crowd of around 150 supporters heard at Te Ao Marama marae at Te Hana last week that the handover was necessary in order to unlock $100 million promised by the Crown to restore the Kaipara.
The new KMR committee also still needs to find a further $100 million from public sources, possibly including councils and landowners, although details of this have not been revealed.
The project has been held up while councils and iwi ink a Memorandum of Understanding and iwi form a Maori Kura Business Unit.
KHMG chair William Wright summed it up:
“Building relationships is easy, but building trust is hard,” he said.
“I’ve worked with crown agencies and councils a long time – I am not a big fan of their slow-moving processes.
“We formed the interim board last year, and since then, there has been a lot of tension in the room between uri (descendants) and councils, but I can say it is getting better.”
He said it was historical for iwi to invite councils to be at the negotiation table for an agreement with the Crown.
At the hui, the new KMR committee was formally introduced for the first time. It will be chaired by Tame Te Rangi.
It includes representatives of Ngati Whatua, Te Uri o Hau, as well as Auckland and Northland Regional Councils, including Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers.
KMR deputy chair and Northland Regional Councillor Penny Smart said she hoped that turbulent times had past and the project would soon get underway.
The conclusion of the IKHMG was bittersweet for founding members present. It was founded in 1996 to tackle the gargantuan task of cleaning up the silted Kaipara Harbour.
Between 2017 and 2020 alone, it distributed 1.25 million trees, free or subsidised, from the Nga Uri o Hau Nursery.
Before the end of the hui, Te Uri o Hau chief executive Jonathan Rishworth told crowds that as a result of the KMR’s slow progress, the nursery had 500,000 trees ready for sale at a “great price”.
