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This battle is not over yet – that was the resolute message from landfill opposition group Fight the Tip (FTT) at a public meeting on Sunday, June 9.
More than 50 people were at the Wellsford Community Centre to hear an update on Waste Management NZ’s (WM) attempt to develop a new regional rubbish dump on 1000 hectares south of Wayby Valley.
FTT chair Sue Crockett said that despite a funding shortfall, the group was determined to keep going, following the Environment Court’s interim decision in December giving WM a chance to meet more conditions in its bid for resource consent.
“I suspected this was not the last battle and, unfortunately, I was correct,” she said. “We will take it as far as we can to protect the Dome Valley, the Hoteo River and the Kaipara Harbour.”
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua and Forest & Bird are appealing against the Environment Court decision in the High Court next month. FTT lawyer Andrew Braggins said the Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust (Ngāti Manuhiri) had filed an application to strike out Ngāti Whātua’s case before the appeals were heard on July 29.
When asked how the proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill might affect any court result, Braggins admitted there was a high likelihood WM would like to use that process, but felt it would still struggle because of the findings of the Environment Court.
Ngāti Whātua chief executive Alan Riwaka said one of the most disappointing things about the interim decision was the recognition by the judges that, had it not been for Ngāti Manuhiri switching its allegiance to WM, the landfill would have been turned down.
However, he said that was as much a fault of the resource consenting and court processes as anything, as they had not been designed with Māori in mind and tore iwi and hapu apart. He said it was important in the long term to heal the damage caused.
But he stressed that Ngāti Whātua would be fighting Ngāti Manuhiri’s strike out application regardless.
“We’re going to continue to fight this and fight it hard,” he said. “The lawyers of Ngāti Manuhiri are still trying to push this thing through, but we’re pretty confident we’re going to knock them over.”
Riwaka also revealed that WM had also approached Ngāti Whātua.
“Waste Management are handing out an olive branch and want to put an offer on the table to try to get their application through,” he told the meeting. “Whether we take it or not, that’s a totally different question.”
Riwaka stressed any offer didn’t mean they were going to “roll over”, but said it was important to update their community and hear their views.
“Our marae and uri have been pretty unanimous through all of this in terms of the opposition and as we all know it’s been a four or five year grind already. I don’t know why anybody would want to turn; I don’t think anyone’s going to change.”
He added that the Fast-track Bill had been mentioned to him, as well.
“We’ve had everything thrown at us to try and scare us off, but we don’t scare easily, if at all,” he said.
“Those sort of things, all they do is get us even more revved up.
“I think we all know what we’re up against and all I can say right now is good luck to all of us.”
WM said after the meeting that it would not be commenting publicly until the legal process had concluded, as it could impact ongoing court proceedings.
