This article was first published on RNZ.
A Whangārei-based hapū battling the development of houses on a sacred site are concerned the landowners will cut down ancient Puriri trees that are significant to mana whenua.
Ngāti Kahu o Torongare have been in and out of court for the last 30 years to protect Onoke Pā, in the suburb of Kamo, which they say was traditionally used to bury the dead.
Last year the hapū won an Environment Court case to stop houses being built on the pā, but it was appealed by the developer and the case is now in the High Court.
Spokesperson Nicki Wakefield told RNZ there are no protections in place for the many hundred year old trees on the site and the hapū is planning on filing an injunction to stop them getting cut down.
“We’re now in the High Court probably for another year, facing an appeal to our win last year in the Environment Court and it is big mahi for our hapū, to go into another year for a third time, needing to fight to protect Onoke.”
“When the judge made his decision at Christmas last year in the Environment Court, he invited us to apply for some extra protections for the large Puriri and Tōtara that are on Onoke.”
“We’ve applied for that, but it’s been opposed and what we’ve found is that by right these these huge, ancient trees can be cut down and it’s a big worry for us.”
Wakefield said there were not “automatic” protections for the trees and the current landowners had the right to cut them down, if they wanted to and it was unclear if they could apply for protections while the appeal was ongoing.
“We’ve asked for the owners to give us some kind of confirmation that the trees won’t be cut down while the appeal is underway. But to date we have not heard that confirmed or agreed with.
“Our hapū know that these are ancient trees and have been there for hundreds of years. They’ve been part of the wāhi tapu from the time our tūpuna processing the dead at that site.”
Wakefield said it would take some time to figure if appealing for protections was even possible.
“There is no funding for what we’ve had to go through over the last year and going into the next year. We’re purely operating off whānau koha.
“Already the costs are in the 10s of thousands just to fight the same fight that our kaumatua did in the 90s - and won. Why are we having to do this again?”
By Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira of RNZ.
