The Port of Tauranga is seeking resource consent for its $88m expansion plans, which are being heard in the Environment Court at Tauranga. Photo / NZME
The Port of Tauranga is seeking resource consent for its $88m expansion plans, which are being heard in the Environment Court at Tauranga. Photo / NZME
A local iwi leader says there is a “better way” to address the Port of Tauranga’s urgent expansion plans and ensure the interests of iwi, hapū and Te Awanui are protected.
Te Rūnanga O Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust chairman Charlie Tawhiao made the comment on the final day ofthe port’s resource consent hearing at Whareroa Marae on Friday. Iwi and hapū have called for a delay in the hearing, which began on February 27, to allow greater input from Māori.
Port of Tauranga Limited (POTL) is seeking consent for a 385-metre wharf extension, a 1.8ha land reclamation at Sulphur Point, as well as a wharf extension stretching 530m north and 388m south of its tanker berth, and a 2.9ha reclamation for its Mount Maunganui wharves.
POTL also says the associated extension to the shipping channel covers 14.4ha and would involve dredging up to 1.5 million cubic metres of the sea floor.
The applicant has submitted that the proposed $88.5m extension is an urgent national priority because of severe capacity constraints on exports within a few years.
Aerial view of the Port of Tauranga. Photo / Mead Norton
At the start of the hearing, the Port of Tauranga offered a $3.75m funding package to local iwi and hapū parties to help mitigate any potential effects of its proposed expansion.
On the final day, it added to its offer, including establishing a Te Awanui Scholarship with Waikato University to promote the health of the harbour, and a Te Awanui Advisory Group to enable iwi and hapū to interact with the port about the consent. The group would be invited to appoint a cultural monitor and marine mammal observer to consult on consent management plans.
Eleven iwi and hapū groups from Tauranga Moana have raised unresolved concerns about the plans.
A drawing outlining the Port of Tauranga's expansion proposal.
Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust’s Tawhiao said he was convinced there was a better path to resolving the matters.
“Over the last 10 years, we have witnessed the impacts on our taonga Te Awanui [Tauranga Harbour] and we have experienced the injurious affections,” Tawhiao said.
“The port is a major user of the harbour and therefore a major contributor to its degradation... Balancing the wellbeing of the harbour with the wellbeing of big business is the purpose of this hearing.”
Te Rūnanga O Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust chairman Charlie Tawhiao (seated centre), inside the wharenui at Whareroa Marae during the Environment Court hearing, with commissioner Jim Hodge and Chief Environment Court Judge David Kirkpatrick (far right). Photo / Sandra Conchie
Tawhiao said he was dismayed with the port’s approach during the previous resource consent court case in 2011 and now, 12 years later, “I feel like we’re experiencing ground-hog day”.
“There is a better way and I hope this court trusts we and the port can pursue that path to a mutually beneficial conclusion,” Tawhiao said.
“I would have preferred we followed that path from the outset. The harbour is a complete entity in itself and unless we approach all the impacts we are talking about from that perspective then we are simply contributing further to the death of Tauranga Moana.
“It is not that we want the port to go away, but we just want them to be better neighbours and better custodians of our taonga.”
Pia Bennett, on behalf of Ngāti Tapu and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kahu and Ngati Kaahu a Tamapahore Trust, called for a halt in the consent process to enable further korero with tangata whenua, hapū and iwi.
Bennett said there would need to be a “lot of changes” to the proposal and greater input from Māori.
Mary Hill, on behalf of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, said granting the consent with enhanced conditions rather than a “hard decline” was far better than having to start the whole process again.
Planning consultant Greg Carlyon, who spoke on behalf of Whareroa Marae Trust and other Ngāi Te Rangi parties, said the applicant had failed to address the effects on cultural values.
“The way this proposal is framed is quite unhealthy in responding to mana whenua, runanga and other iwis’ ability to manage and control their interests,” Carlyon said.
“Evidence from mana whenua identifies significant adverse effects on the coastal environment, taonga species, marine diversity, and cultural values held by iwi and hapū, which cannot be addressed by the current proposed mitigation and management package offered by the port.”
A letter from Te Runanga o Ngāti Pūkenga Iwi ki Tauranga Trust co-chairs Samuel Mikaere and Kylie Smallman confirming its opposition to the consent was also presented to the court.
Vanessa Hamm, legal counsel for POTL, said the port would look to bring Te Awanui “front and centre” when finalising proposed consent conditions.
Hamm said the key issue for the court was whether the proposed work would have adverse cumulative effects that could not be appropriately managed by consent conditions including the “extensive mitigation package” offered by the port.
She said the port would also look to increase iwi and hapū involvement in the consent, and introduce “more rigour” into the consent generally.
Hamm said that given all evidence before the court already, it was “not practicable” to defer or delay granting the consent to have further protracted engagement.
Hamm will file her final written submissions with the court by April 6, which includes a full set of proposed consent conditions.
Chief Environment Court Judge David Kirkpatrick and commissioners Jim Hodge, Anne Leijnen and Glenice Paine reserved their decision.
