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Continued frustration at Māori settlement trusts withdrawing their opposition to the proposed Dome Valley landfill without full iwi consultation was aired at a meeting in Wellsford on Saturday, November 1.
The hui ā-iwi, or tribal gathering, attracted representatives from Puatahi, Reweti, Haranui, Omaha, Waihaua, Waiohau and Wai Aotea marae, as well as Fight the Tip and community members.
However, one of the organisers, Tinopai Resource Managment Unit director, Fight the Tip executive and Wai Aotea Marae representative Mikaera Miru, said there should have been more present.
“Many kaihanganui (Ngāti Whātua tribal elders), who passed a resolution to ban all landfills in Ngāti Whātua’s rohe without the consent of mana whenua, were conspicously absent,” he said.
“The kauhanganui had asked for this hui, but most failed to attend. Most of the 33 Ngāti Whātua marae boycotted the hui.”
He said it was “shameful” that iwi politics were being conducted behind closed doors.
“The dynamics of Māori and pakeha working together is the future of New Zealand working together,” he said.
Dame Naida Glavish said Puatahi Marae was withdrawing from a collective of five South Kaipara marae over the landfill backflip by three Ngāti Whātua Post settlement Government Entities (PSGEs) in May.
The meeting heard that the late Māori King Tuheitia had raised concerns about PSGEs, with Miru suggesting that concerns over “serious failures” of Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Whātua PSGEs over the landfill appeals process should be taken to the new Maori Queen Nga Wai hono i te po.
Fight the Tip deputy chair Michelle Carmichael said it was concerning that landfill developer Waste Management NZ (WM) had “played communities and iwi off against each other”.
She warned that while the court process was not over yet, as Forest & Bird had an appeal in progress, WM would seek Fast-track legislation if its resource consent application was declined.
A resolution was made to write to trustees of global environmental award The Earthshot Prize, for which Kaipara Moana Remediation has been nominated this year, raising concerns about the negative impact on the Hoteo and tributaries, Kaipara moana and the Tasman Sea by the landfill.
The meeting also resolved to maintain the rahui that was placed over the landfill site on June 5, 2019.
