‘We want the whenua back’: Iwi occupies Department of Conservation land in Northland

Originally Posted by Māori Television

An occupation has been started in the Whangārei area to stop the transfer of land from the Department of Conservation to the Whangārei District Council.

Pātaua South is 30 minutes from Whangārei, and local iwi Te Waiariki and Ngāti Kororā began occupying land in the DoC parking lot in Pātaua South in protest of a possible sale of 57ha of land owned by the Harrison family of Pātaua. The iwi has been in talks to buy the land, but time is running out.

Hori Parata says that the local iwi is concerned about some of the decisions that are made. “The Department of Conservation and the district council without any consultation from us, the tangata whenua, went ahead and reversed the piece of road here at the district council, which allowed for legal access.”

The land in question was owned by John (Tim) Harrison, who died in 2016, leaving up to $ 10 million worth of property.

According to Parata, Ngāti Kororā and Te Waiariki have made clear their intentions to purchase the 57ha block. “Our position is that we said that we will not commit to that process of putting the offers in an envelope that will be opened on April 8. I told my lawyer to speak to the executive if they would accept an offer based on whakapapa.” that will be a dollar higher than the highest bid. “

Kelly Klink of Te Waiariki has been instrumental in the fight to stop the sale of the land. She says: “We found out that a piece of land had finally gone up for sale, and the whānau tried to make an offer and ignored it. Yesterday we had a hui and it is about bringing Te Waiariki under one umbrella and standing together and trying to retrieve this whenua for whānau hapū.

“We want the whenua to return to the hands of the Maori so that it returns to its rightful owner, and that is why we are here.”

Furthermore, Te Waiariki wants to challenge the transfer of the road by the DoC to the Whangārei District Council as a means of accessing the block.

DoC North Island North Operations Director Sue Reed-Thomas says the department is aware of the concerns raised by iwi in Pātaua South and will address these concerns directly with them. “We hope to meet with them later this week.”

Parata says that the land is very sacred to its people. “I think we have been here since point year, our whakapapa. So we have iho whenua here from our tūpuna to ourselves, our baby’s whistle is here, we still have kōiwi here on this island. We have wāhi tapū all around this Island “.