Taipa protesters may get trespass notices

Members of Ngati Kahu who were trespassed off land at Taipa last week may have new plans to occupy a different piece of land. Photo / NZ Herald

The manager of a Far North property being occupied by Ngati Kahu protesters says he hopes not to have to issue trespass notices.

Todd Male heads back tomorrow to Taipa, northeast of Kaitaia, where the protesters have occupied land owned by his father Kevin since last week.

The Ngati Kahu protesters, led by brothers Wikatana and John Popata, last month occupied the Far North District Council-owned reserve, near the Taipa Sailing Club, until police arrived and issued them with trespass notices.

They then returned a few days later and occupied nearby private land managed by Mr Male.

Mr Male told NZPA today he had been to talk to the protesters "just to see if they wouldn't reconsider and quietly move on with a minimum of fuss" and planned to do so again tomorrow.

"I put it to him they can still maintain their protest actions through other means," he said. "But they don't quite see it the same way."

Mr Male said the protest "has been fairly peaceful and my response has been fairly peaceful".

He said that he hoped to convince the protesters to leave without having to get trespass notices issued, "but over time it becomes more and more something I am thinking about".

Taipa Bay Resort manager Dale Synnott said tour buses had returned to the resort on Friday. One company abandoned the Taipa stop on Thursday after some of the protesters boarded a bus that morning to explain their cause.

Ms Synnott said the buses were pulling up at the front of the resort, further away from the protesters.

The protesters say that a 1997 Waitangi Tribunal report agreed that Ngati Kahu's title to the Taipa Point land has never been extinguished.

The Crown signed an agreement in principle with Ngati Kahu in January for the settlement of historical claims, though Ngati Kahu says the proposed settlement cannot be full and final as it does not return all tribal lands. It does not include the Taipa Point land.

Council land is treated the same way as private land in treaty settlements, which is not handed back to Maori as part of the current process.

Labour tourism spokesman Kelvin Davis, who is from the Ngati Manu hapu of Ngapuhi, said decisive action was needed by Prime Minister John Key before Northland's reputation as a safe place to holiday was ruined.

"Reports emerging that tourists on buses are receiving uninvited lectures on the Taipa occupation prove that Northland increasingly risks being seen as a third world destination in a first world country," Mr Davis said.

He said he did not think there was any evidence to suggest the land was acquired by stealth.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson said last week the protesters could "go to hell" before he would go there and meet them about their grievance while they broke the law.

- NZPA