“We support the whanau decision to submit an inquiry into the government's space policy as the Treaty partner. The whanau have expressed there will be peaceful protesting until their message and call have been heard.
“There is no excuse as to why affected whanau are being overlooked when a company wants to use land. Shareholders we have spoken to have not seen the contract with Rocket Lab, which shows the lack of consultation done with tangata whenua.
“It is a perception of segregation when there are two gates, one for Maori and one for Rocket Lab when accessing the whenua. Rocket Lab accesses the whenua through an electric gate which needs a password to get through, while Maori are required to enter through a standard farm gate over bumpy, gravel road before meeting the nicely sealed Rocket Lab road.
“This is an example of how easy it can be to tokenise partnerships with tangata whenua. This whanau have experienced the Government's lack of understanding of mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga.
“I will work to ensure the Government answers patai (questions) from the whanau who are unaware of the different Rocket Lab activities happening on Maori land,” he said.
Green Party spokesperson for Maori development, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, attended as the party's MP based in Gisborne.
“The Green Party is very conscious of the impact of successive rocket launches on the whenua and moana of Mahia and Ikaroa-Rawhiti,” she said.
“The whanau have seen the absence of local birds and kaimoana so we support the call from whanau for independent cultural and environmental impact assessments.
“We are here to work, represent, and push for the voices of Maori to be heard in the halls of Te Whare Paremata. We thank nga uri o Rongomaiwahine for your korero. We have heard, and we will work with you to ensure there are no gates to separate and segregate you from your own whenua.”
Rocket Lab leases a small footprint of land for Launch Complex 1 within the privately-owned area known as a Onenui Station, a farming station owned and operated by Tawapata South Incorporation.
“Access to the farm is managed primarily by Onenui Station to control stock movement,” a Rocket Lab spokesperson said.
“All rocket launches require temporary safety zones to be activated in the area surrounding the launch site during launch operations.
“For Rocket Lab, this means briefly restricting air and marine space, and temporarily closing roads, to ensure people are safe and clear from the launch area.
“To date, Rocket Lab has only activiated this safety zone for a collective total of 54 hours since the first launch in May 2017.
“The marine safety zone is typically active for fewer than three hours on launch day, and while it's active mana whenua can safely access land and sea via direct contact with our launch safety team.”
The New Zealand Space Agency that sits within Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said “we have no comment to make on this”.
