Matai Bay protesters to get marching orders

Far North iwi blocking the road to a Department of Conservation (DOC) camping ground on the Karikari Peninsula are acting illegally and will be told to move, Conservation Minister Chris Carter said today.

Ngati Kahu say they are sick of trespassers from the camp crossing their land in Matai Bay, north-east of Kaitaia, and have blocked the only road to the camp.

They claimed the road was a private accessway belonging to them but Mr Carter said inquiries today showed that was not the case; the Maori Land Court had, in 1974, authorised a public road through the Maori land.

" ... so the public have full access rights to the camping ground at Matai Bay," Mr Carter said.

"It is absolutely unacceptable that a group of people would deny public the access to their own camping ground."

DOC staff would ask the protesters to move tomorrow morning and, if they did not, the police would be called in.

"(If) people break the law then they have to be subject to the law," Mr Carter said.

"We will be instructing the police to remove the barrier which has been erected on a bridge which is part of a surveyed road which is where the public has full access."

Mr Carter said he would have met the protesters if the issue was solely around campers in a DOC-managed camping site trespassing on private Maori land.

However, the issue was over access on a public road and he was not prepared to meet them about that.

"We've taken remedial action such as putting up barriers and signs to alert people that they shouldn't be trespassing on private land. We have every sympathy with the owners over that," he said.

"That's not the issue now. It's an issue of denying legal access."

About 12 campers are at 100-site camping ground, which is usually full over Christmas and New Year.

It was important holidaymakers felt safe and DOC staff would monitor the situation in an effort to ensure they were, Mr Carter said. However, he could not give a guarantee there would be no problems.

"So far no campers have been threatened or intimidated, and let's hope that that continues," he said.

The camping ground is subject to a Treaty of Waitangi claim which is yet to go through the full process.

Mr Carter said he believed the action was really a de facto protest against the Foreshore and Seabed Act, passed last month, which affirms Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed.

"Initially we were told it was an issue of campers wandering inappropriately on to private land. I have every sympathy for that problem," he said.

"But ... we have now moved on to other issues, such as the ownership of the camping ground ..."

Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngati Kahu chairwoman Professor Margaret Mutu told National Radio the iwi was considering its legal position.

She could not be contacted for further comment.

- NZPA