Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga Harbour controversy sparks another mass protest

John Cousins
By John Cousins
Senior reporter, Bay of Plenty Times·Bay of Plenty Times·
14 Jul, 2017 09:11 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tauranga's Ngai Te Rangi Iwi chairman Charlie Tawhiao has rejected an accusation that Tauranga Moana iwi were reneging on a deal. Photo/George Novak

Tauranga's Ngai Te Rangi Iwi chairman Charlie Tawhiao has rejected an accusation that Tauranga Moana iwi were reneging on a deal. Photo/George Novak

Traffic on State Highway 2 will come to standstill for the second time in a week when hundreds of protesters march across Wairoa Bridge tomorrowin a bid to stop the Government signing a deal that gives Hauraki Maori rights over Tauranga Harbour.

Dressed in full regalia from the Battle of Gate Pa in 1864, the mostly Maori protesters will take part in a hikoi in which the bridge will be ceremonially adorned in foliage.

It marks the third and last protest action by the Mana Moana campaign that began with waka blocking the Tauranga entrance to the harbour and continued last Sunday when about 400 people marched from Katikati's Uretara Domain into the town centre.

"We are anticipating huge numbers," Hikoi organiser Meremaihi Aloua said.

She said the police and councils were cooperating with the plans and traffic would be stopped for the time it took protesters to walk on to the bridge from Te Puna Station Rd, cross the bridge and then depart SH2 a short distance further on down Taniwha Place.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We are inviting everyone, not just tangata whenua. The future of the harbour is everyone's future."

The highway was expected to be blocked to traffic again when everyone walked up to the Wairoa Marae for kai after a massed haka and speeches.

Paul Majurey, the chairman of Hauraki's collective of 12 iwi, said the Waitangi Tribunal's 2004 Tauranga Moana report confirmed the centuries-old customary interests of Pare Hauraki in the Tauranga Harbour catchment area.

"Following this report, Treaty redress was negotiated and agreed between us."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said it was strange how Tauranga iwi had spent years negotiating and reaching Treaty agreements with people who they now accused of being outsiders and foreigners.

The accusation that Hauraki iwi were trying to take over Tauranga Harbour referred to the co-governance entity proposed for the harbour and its catchments in which the collective had one seat, Tauranga Moana iwi four seats and the Crown five seats.

Mr Majurey said they were there because of their customary interests.

"Pare Hauraki are the target of a Tauranga iwi PR campaign against our Treaty settlements. They have incited ill-temper which could escalate if left unchecked."

Tauranga's Ngai Te Rangi Iwi chairman Charlie Tawhiao rejected the accusation that Tauranga Moana iwi were reneging on a deal.

He said what started out as sharing the first right of refusal to a handful of Crown-owned properties had ended as a threat to the cultural identity of Tauranga iwi.

Mr Tawhiao explained that customary interests were not the same as customary rights.

"We all have customary interests all over the place. Interests are something we all have because of our shared history."

But he claimed customary interests had been inflated and distorted by Pare Hauraki to become customary rights.

"Customary rights are much more powerful than customary interests."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Tawhiao said rights applied to an iwi's heartland but interests applied to any interest. For instance, Ngai Te Rangi's tipuna (ancestors) lived just north of Gisborne.

"We have a customary interest but we would never presume to have customary rights."

He proposed that Pare Hauraki parked the redress applying to Tauranga Harbour and continued with the rest of its Deed of Settlement. They could not have that conversation as long as the threat of the imminent signing of Pare Hauraki's Deed of Settlement remained in place.

In an earlier statement, Mr Tawhiao said Ngai Te Rangi had been fighting the Crown's attempts to change a centuries-old tribal structure in Tauranga.

"The Crown is supporting a collective of Hauraki iwi and hapu aiming to take control of Tauranga just as they have in Auckland and are seeking to do in Northland ... shaky deals such as this are fertile ground for fresh and contemporary claims here and across the country."

He said Ngai Te Rangi had a case for urgency before the Waitangi Tribunal about this matter and any signing (with Pare Hauraki) would circumvent that legal process.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Protest march timetable

9am-10am: Buses carry protesters from Maramatanga Park to Te Puna Station Rd bend

10am: Karakia (prayers)

10.30am: Hikoi departs

12.15pm: Estimated arrival time Taniwha Place for mass haka and speeches

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Plague of hoons': Bikers 'tearing up' parks frustrate neighbours

13 Jul 07:03 PM
Bay of Plenty TimesUpdated

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM
Premium
Opinion

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Plague of hoons': Bikers 'tearing up' parks frustrate neighbours

'Plague of hoons': Bikers 'tearing up' parks frustrate neighbours

13 Jul 07:03 PM

'Off they go waving their finger in the air.'

Making NZ top destination for international students

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Sam Ruthe breaks NZ records in LA

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP