Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Whātua may join forces to try to stop the proposed legislation to nullify a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act (MACAA), even though the two iwi are in court opposing each other over a giant landfill in Dome Valley.
Terrence ‘Mook’ Hohneck, chair of Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, told Te Ao Māori News his iwi would be willing to work with the opposing iwi.
“We made no secret about it that anything that repeals the current act. Ngāti Manuhiri has a long coastline and joining that is the coastline of our whanaunga ,so we definitely have issues with that.
“We can definitely come together with all other iwi, Ngāti Whātua, the rūnanga as one of our whanaunga, or whoever but we definitely have our own thoughts about the Foreshore and Seabed Act and we don’t want to see the change to that,” Hohneck said after walking out of the Iwi Chairs Forum with Ngāpuhi in protest at the government.
The proposed law change comes as part of the coalition agreement conditions between National and New Zealand First.
Why are Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Whātua in court?
The two iwi were in the Auckland High Court this week due to Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua challenging an interim decision to grant resource consent to Waste Management Ltd for a mega-dump in Dome Valley.
The Environment Court ruled in the dump’s favour in December last year, following a backflip by local iwi Ngāti Manuhiri, which now supports the project.
The 60-hectare, 26 million cubic metre landfill will be a stone’s throw from the Hōteo River, which runs into the Kaipara Harbour. Opponents say the environmental impacts on the harbour’s health should outweigh Auckland’s need for a place to dump its rubbish.
Last year, a memorandum between Waste Management and the Manuhiri Kaitiaki Charitable Trust, a subsidiary of the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, was filed in the Environment Court.
In exchange for the settlement trust’s support, Waste Management has agreed to several conditions, including a return of 1060 ha of Waste Management landholdings once the site is no longer required, $2 million to build six homes nearby, and a $10 million environment fund should the river be exposed to risk.