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Tipene O’Regan is asking Southlanders to start thinking nationally for the benefit of Southland.
Speaking on the theme of the region’s regeneration as part of the Ngāi Tahu Treaty Festival on Saturday, O’Regan said the people of Southlanders, and New Zealand as a whole, face a once-in-many generation opportunity to reestablish the the way it handles energy. .
He was referring to the future of the Manapōuri hydroelectric station when the New Zealand aluminum smelter at Tiwai Point, the largest user of its energy, inevitably halted manufacturing activities.
The smelter’s owner, Rio Tinto, announced his intentions to close the plant in 2020, and although an extension had been negotiated through 2024, O’Regan said those planning for Southland’s future without one of its largest employers cannot afford to take a step back. pedal.
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“There has been a respite, but there is great danger that the anxiety around you will disappear,” he said.
In October 2020, Ngāi Tahu officially activated his partnership with the Crown, under the Treaty of Waitangi, to ensure that economic, social, cultural and environmental values were maintained in the Southland transition.
The Crown’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2032 was an opportunity to harness the clean energy already produced in Southland, O’Regan said.
“The whole structure is in place. All you have to do is lose the fireplace, ”he said. “We waste huge amounts of this wonderful fresh water that this island produces.”
Robyn Edie / Stuff
Ngāi Tahu kaumātua Tā Tipene O’Regan, left, and Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki President James Brown hongi at Te Rau Aroha Marae during this year’s Ngāi Tahu Treaty Festival.
O’Regan’s comments came towards the end of Ngāi Tahu’s Waitangi Treaty commemorations, which were organized by Awarua Rūnaka at Te Rau Aroha Marae.
Standing in the wharenui, with a panel honoring the Murihiku rivers behind them and another commemorating the treaty signatories in front of them, kaumātua spoke about the challenges related to this year’s theme: Wai (water).
The Gabrielle Huria Pīni Pīni Training School explained the importance of Ngāi Tahu’s rangatiratanga over fresh water.
The water had been left off the table during the negotiations for the 1997 Ngāi Tahu Settlement Deed, Huria said, but the current state of the South Island’s waterways meant that current and future generations would not be able to use them as did tīpuna.
“The only thing that can combat this tragedy is to continue working to improve the state of our environment,” he said.
Robyn Edie / Stuff
The Minister of Energy and Resources, Megan Woods, Ngāi Tahu kamātua Tā Tipene O’Regan, and the Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, listen to speakers at the wharenui where the importance of fresh water was highlighted.
Many of the day’s speakers highlighted the importance of understanding New Zealand history, in order to build an Aotearoa for all New Zealanders.
As Ngāi Tahu’s keynote speaker and historian Dr. Michael Stevens said, many used the treatise as a path into Maori history, rather than understanding the context in which it was written.
Understanding that context is vital to ensuring the future of the treaty, he said.
There was plenty of humor throughout the day, interspersed with lighthearted jokes between representatives of the iwi and the Crown on matters currently before the courts.
There was a lot of talk about being halfway up the proverbial bridge.
But the general atmosphere, with some 500 Southland and ākoutākou natives enjoying the Bluff sun, was hopeful.
“Our commemorations today in Awarua have been filled with extraordinary variety, but also genuinely felt and expressed, a hope that we, Ngāi Tahu and the Crown, will have a better quality and more informed relationship in our future,” said O Regan. .
