Ihumātao deal imminent

Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, December 14th, 2020 - 25 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, labour, Maori Issues, nz first, supercity, treaty settlements, uncategorized, winston peters - Tags: , ,

With the removal of the NZ First handbrake from Government there is the expectation that this Government will achieve all sorts of good things.  Radio New Zealand reported this morning on what will hopefully be the first of many.

From Jane Patterson at Radio New Zealand:

There has been a major breakthrough towards resolving the standoff over Ihumātao, with an initial deal expected to go to Cabinet today.

RNZ understands the deal is for Fletcher Building to sell the land to the government, the first step in reaching a resolution; with agreement from Fletchers and Kīingitanga, on behalf of mana whenua.

While this would remove Fletchers from the equation, more work to then decide how the government and mana whenua reach a final agreement about the land would likely still have to be done.

Attempts by Labour ministers to get a Cabinet-mandated resolution were repeatedly blocked last term by coalition partner New Zealand First, which was voted out of Parliament at the election.

I wonder if we might see a come back from Winston Peters over the issue.  Jane Patterson described his views on the issue during the last Government in this way:

New Zealand First, and its leader and former deputy prime minister Winston Peters, vowed throughout to block any taxpayer money being spent on resolving the dispute and warned of the “domino” effect it would have on sparking potential Treaty of Waitangi rows over land elsewhere. His party was in coalition with Labour, and consensus on decisions around the Cabinet had to be reached before any action could be taken.

During the election campaign he delivered a speech from Orewa calling the protesters “malcontents who got so much unjustified publicity, sticking mainly in the throat of traditional Māori”.

Peters said his party had said no to Labour “three times” and refused a request from its coalition partner to invoke the “agree to disagree” clause.

“For us, it was a matter of deep principle. For us, it was fundamental to whether we maintained confidence in Labour. So we told Labour that. And staved off any action before the election.”

I suspect we will see some Orewa type grandstanding either from him or from National in coming days.  But New Zealand has moved on a great deal since Don Brash tried the same back in 2004.  We all have a deepening connection with Te Ao Māori and as time goes by the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi are more clearly understood.

And on a personal note can I express support for local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki who have been criticised, unfairly in my view.  I thought they had negotiated a very good deal in the circumstances and had fought to protect the land for an extended period of time.

I previously said this:

TKAM has been at the forefront of efforts to protect the Ihumātao area.  In 2012 the tribe opposed private efforts to move the metropolitan urban limit and allow development of the area.  It claimed that the whole area was waahi tapu.

It opposed the approval of a special housing area by Council and the Government in 2013.  It protested against the lack of consultation but to no avail.

The tribe then negotiated with Fletchers about the development of the land and obtained significant concessions.  The major concessions that were negotiated include:

  • Affordable housing for whanau
  • Employment and training opportunities
  • Protection and enhancement of their natural and cultural heritage,
  • Return of confiscated ancestral land to the ownership of mana whenua, to be preserved in perpetuity for the welfare of whanau.

These comments are taken from submissions made by Te Warena Taua to Auckland Council on August 27, 2015 in response to a SOUL presented petition urging Council to stop the development.  At that meeting Cathy Casey moved a resolution that Council revokes its recommendation that the area be established as a special housing area.  The resolution was lost five to twelve.

I can understand TKAM’s desire to get on with things.  It has completed its treaty settlement.  The tribe’s elders want to get on and complete the projects that they have set themselves to.  It is a small tribe and its human and financial resources are limited.

And they have performed remarkably well.  Having fought the Government the Council and Fletchers for the past eight years they have come up with a compromise that they can live with.

But  a longer term view causes a completely different perspective to be reached.  The land was confiscated by the Crown in 1863 under the pretext that Waikato Tainui were in rebellion but as conceded by the Crown in the treaty settlement this was not the case.  The Crown has settled claims on two occasions and former Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser said after the first one that he had no doubts about the “inherent justice of the claims of the Maori people”.

But this claim has been settled.  And part of the settlement involved the transfer of a 3 hectare block of land in the general Ihumatao area to Waikato Tainui.

It will be interesting to see the details of the deal that has been reached.  And it is good that without the NZ First handbrake this Government is showing a willingness to do what is right.

25 comments on “Ihumātao deal imminent ”

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  1. RobbieWgtn 1
    14 December 2020 at 8:55 am

    "We all have a deepening connection with Te Ao Māori and as time goes by the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi are more clearly understood."

    Most Kiwis clearly understand that many of these "breaches" to be whining self entitled blameshifting rorts aimed at continuing handouts from the "colonial occupiers" rather than make any attempt to accept responsibility for yourself & your actions/consequences.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/12/waikato-mongrel-mob-kingdom-w-hine-toa-lodges-first-ever-all-female-gang-claim-with-waitangi-tribunal.html

    • mickysavage 1.1
      14 December 2020 at 9:15 am

      Is that you Winston?

    • JanM 1.2
      14 December 2020 at 9:20 am

      I really hope that 'most kiwis' are not as ignorant as you claim them to be, although I'm sure there are pockets of wilful racism by some with chips on their shoulders. It's a 'kick the cat' thought pattern IMO.

    • Roy Cartland 1.3
      14 December 2020 at 10:29 am

      accept responsibility for yourself & your actions

      Yes, the Crown starting to do this is a great first step.

    • NOEL 1.4
      14 December 2020 at 10:31 am

      I wonder if my son can process a Treaty claim claim that his beating by radicalised Mongrel Mob youth for his "mean as phone" when he inadvertently walked into the "Dark Side" of Pukekohe was because of colonisation?

      A life time TBI should be worth something.

      • NOEL 1.4.1
        14 December 2020 at 10:37 am

        Should have added after the incident the Police told us they never enter the area alone and always have their car doors locked.

        Duty of care to protect?

        We also found out that it is called the "Dark Side" because the power company no longer replaces the street light bulbs as they are always broken to disguise what ever it is those poor people affected by colonialisation do in the dark.

        • left_forward 1.4.1.1
          14 December 2020 at 1:16 pm

          You do know that the Dark Side of the Moon isn't actually darker than the 'white side'? – to the ignorant, what cant be seen or not understood always seems dark and dangerous.

      • left_forward 1.4.2
        14 December 2020 at 1:09 pm

        No – you need to brush up on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, then you wouldn't have to ask such an irrelevant question (make such a stupid comment) in the context of this kaupapa – arohanui ki tou tama.

        • Noel 1.4.2.1
          14 December 2020 at 3:13 pm

          Hopefully some Mongrel Mob dickhead will give you a TBI.

          [that’s an instant ban, only a week instead of 6 months or longer given your personal context, but you cannot wish grievous bodily harm on fellow commenters. Take a week to cool off, have a read of the Policy, and when you come back, please take some time to figure out how things work here. We’re here for the debate, and there are limits on what commenters can do if they want to keep commenting – weka]

          [Policy wording: Directly or indirectly advocating violence in any shape or form (including ‘jest’ and advocating self-harm) to individuals or groups is simply not allowed. Moderators will have a no-tolerance humourless response as the only possible response. If you want to talk about political conflicts around the world, then do so being mindful of this proscription.]

          • left_forward 1.4.2.1.1
            15 December 2020 at 9:07 am

            Apologies, I didn''t intend to be insensitive to your boy’s trauma. This is a thread about Te Tiriti however.

            Peace and good wishes to you and your son.

    • Brigid 1.5
      14 December 2020 at 10:34 am

      'handouts'?

      'handouts'?!

      Returning stolen land is not delivering handouts.

      You see 'breaches' and 'theft' are not synonymous.

      You are entitled to be as racist as you want Robbie. Just don't try to justify your racism with bullshit untruths.

    • Anne 1.6
      14 December 2020 at 10:48 am

      It was the whining self entitled blameshifting colonial occupiers who made no attempt to accept responsibility for their land-grabbing rorts and the negative consequences for the indigenous peoples that still exist today.

      FIFY.

    • lprent 1.7
      14 December 2020 at 10:54 am

      Most Kiwis clearly understand …

      That idiotic bigots like you aren't worth expending effort on.

      You'll whine on forever, never look at the statistics of imprisonment, never look at the obvious inequalities in our current society, and never ever bother to think about the waste of human potentials inherent in your self-righteous and inherent racism.

      So we'll ignore you. Because you have nothing new to say nor make any effort to deal with the problems of today. You're too busy repeating the stupid mistakes of the past.

    • GreenBus 1.8
      15 December 2020 at 8:27 am

      [class-based pejorative deleted]. RobbieWgtn represents the old redneck bridgade. People are trying to move on to advance multiculture especially with Maori. Injustices have been done and Govt. should at least attempt to right the wrongs of the past.

    • Brendan 1.9
      15 December 2020 at 11:13 am

      It is well known that there are Maori problems.

      But it is not my job to fix them. It is my job to be responsible for the behavior of myself and my ancestors, some who were here before 1840. And then work to fix our problems.

      The best people to fix Maori problems are the Maori. Not some European trying to "Europeansplaine".

  2. Tricledrown 2
    14 December 2020 at 9:28 am

    Robber from wellington Maori wouldn't be in in poverty if the colonial settlers honoured the treaty maybe you would be paying rent for the land you live on .

    Taking one example and trying to paint the whole of Maoridom is racism.

    Maori didn't have lindependent legal representation in any land dealings until the 1870's so under law just about all land sales would be deemed illegal under current law .

    Let alone confiscations and stolen lands.

    Now Maori are using legal redress ,those who are profiting from illegal gains are trying to under mine to make Maori look bad.

  3. weka 3
    14 December 2020 at 10:09 am

    I hope this is true and works out in a timely manner. Good lesson for the neolibs and pro-colonialists who think land like this is an investment asset to be traded.

    I like what you are saying about us all having a deepening connection with Te Ao Māori. Hoping we can continue conversations that are values based.

  4. Ad 4
    14 December 2020 at 11:57 am

    I will be very interested to see whether the mana of Te Kawerau A Maki is upheld and enhanced. In particular to the leadership of Te Warena Taua who had to defend himself in court last year from other trustees trying to roll him. It was he that had got Maori housing into the development before the protesters arrived.

    I'm expecting though that the only people satisfied will be Pakeha who want just an undeveloped park.

    It will take longer to get any Maori families housed on that land than it did on Bastion Point.

  5. millsy 5
    14 December 2020 at 7:46 pm

    It would have been interesting to see how 'affordable' these 'affordable' housing units that Fletcher's planned to build. I'm guessing not very.

    Concern trolling by National about 'thousands of families' having to 'live in their cars' because a few 'activists' are holding up this 'development', really wants to make me laugh as these families living in their cars would be able to afford these houses anyway.

    Of course, there is an arguement that the term 'affordable housing' is meaningless, as all housing is affordable in this country, its just it depends on *who* can afford it. You could also say that all housing in this country should be affordable to everyone as well.

    If I dont post again (have been scaling back my posting over the past year or two, still read everything though), have a Merry Christmas, and happy 2021.

  6. Enough is Enough 6
    15 December 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Disappointingly, but very predictably, nothing was delivered by Jacinda – again.