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Te Rūnanga Ngāti Whātua and Forest & Bird have lost their High Court appeals against the Environment Court’s interim decision a year ago that consent for a huge new regional landfill might be granted if Waste Management NZ (WM) could resolve certain issues.
In a decision released this afternoon, (Thursday, December 19), Justice Christian Whata said the appeals, which can only be made on points of law, should be dismissed.
However, he made it clear that it wasn’t a straightforward decision and some aspects were only dismissed because they came after the interim, rather than final, decision and so were premature.
“It is only with the benefit of the deep interrogation of the decision, evidence and law, have I been able to reach that conclusion that each of the appeal grounds should be dismissed,” he said.
“The final judgment will nevertheless need to more clearly address how the competing tikanga ā-iwi positions are resolved and the basis upon which a ‘no material harm’ result is achieved, especially in relation to extent of river loss.”
Judge Whata said the High Court case had been complex and difficult.
“While the appeal grounds have been dismissed, and in some key respects the appeals were premature, there were also public interest aspects to these appeals, with several important areas.”
He added that because the appeals were dismissed there was no need to resolve an application by Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust to strike out the Ngati Whatua and Forest & Bird appeals, but if it had been necessary, he would have dismissed it.
