Former Aussie politico Tio Faulkner to appeal conviction after illegally reclaiming Tauranga Harbour

Tio Faulkner was sentenced to three months and two weeks in prison after being found guilty of illegally reclaiming land in Tauranga Harbour. He is appealing his conviction. Photo / Ethan Griffiths

Australian politico turned New Zealand convict Tio Faulkner is out of prison and back in court, fighting to clear his name after he was convicted of attempting to reclaim land for his own harbourside "park".

Faulkner, a resident of Tauranga's Matapihi Peninsula, was imprisoned for three months and two weeks in February after being found guilty of illegally reclaiming land in the city's harbour. He represented himself.

Now he is challenging his conviction in the High Court, appearing on Wednesday before Justice Graham Lang.

The offending that led to the conviction surrounded Faulkner's desire to build a park for his whānau, dumping thousands of kilograms of reinforced steel and concrete into the water in the process.

The offending was discovered by a Bay of Plenty Regional Council officer conducting aerial surveys in 2018. At the time, the platform extended about 15m into the harbour and was about 30m wide, covering almost 1000sq m.

Faulkner was later ordered by the council to stop, but didn't heed the advice.

He was eventually charged and convicted under the Resource Management Act - a drawn-out court process that had Faulkner go to trial, then repeatedly refuse to meet with a probation officer to determine his financial position for a sentence of a fine.

Faulkner has consistently denied the charges, being found guilty after a trial last year.

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It was unclear what Faulkner's grounds for appeal were. He has previously claimed the court had no jurisdiction over him, due to the property where the offending occurred being Māori freehold land.

Faulkner has also put up a variety of defences for the earthworks, most notably that he was protecting his land from the threat of climate change.

On Wednesday Faulkner also attempted to launch an appeal around a Judge's decision to refuse him bail prior to sentencing. At the time, Faulkner had failed to adhere to an order to meet a probation officer.

That appeal was dismissed by Justice Lang, with Faulkner having now completed his sentence.

He was set to reappear in four weeks, where he will be required to provide the court details on the substance of his appeal.

Last year's conviction was a fall from grace for the Bay of Plenty man who was previously a high-profile Australian political operative. In the late 2000s, Faulkner was elected president of the Canberra branch of the Liberal Party.

In the early 2010s, Faulkner became the right-hand man of Zed Seselja, then a Canberra senator and recently a Minister in the Scott Morrison government, until last weekend's election loss.

Faulkner was previously dubbed a "campaign mastermind" by the Australian newspaper The Age.