Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair Ngarimu says the ongoing court battle is costing everyone money and energy.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair Ngarimu says the ongoing court battle is costing everyone money and energy.
One of the country’s richest iwi, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, is heading back to court today to defend its customary rights over Tāmaki Makaurau’s Westhaven Marina redevelopment.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei - who have a commercial asset portfolio valued at $1.5 billion - sought recognition from the courts that it has thedominant iwi relationship with land and water around Westhaven Marina over other iwi in the Auckland area.
In July, the Environment Court decision ruled in Ngāti Whātua’s favour, accepting the strong connection the iwi had to the Westhaven Marina area.
But four iwi - Ngāti Maru Rūnanga Trust, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Trust, Te Ākitai o Waiohua Waka Taua Incorporated, and Te Patukiriri Trust - appealed that decision.
The Auckland High Court has set aside two days for the appeal, starting today.
“We are disappointed that our rates have been wasted and continue to be wasted on an exercise defending open ended consultation policies with iwi clearly domiciled in faraway places,” Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei deputy chair Ngarimu Blair told the Herald.
“We too have to expend our resources defending our tikanga and territory when there are far more pressing priorities such as health, housing and education.”
A Westhaven Marina project illustration from Futures Auckland's website. Image / Supplied
The four iwi who appealed were part of the 19 originally sought for consultation and engagement over the Western project.
In 2019, Eke Panuku - Auckland Council’s then property arm - obtained resource consent to expand Westhaven Marina but required engagement with 19 different iwi and hapū groups.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei appealed that consent ruling to the Environment Court, arguing it had the dominant relationship to the land and water and should have a lead role in the engagement process.
Eke Panuku was disbanded in July and is no longer party to proceedings.
Auckland Council’s associate general counsel - regulatory and enforcement - Christian Brown said the local body had been named as a respondent to the appeal “consistent with its role as the consent authority for the underlying resource consent”.
“The council has not lodged its own appeal,” Brown said.
“It will participate in the High Court proceedings as required to assist the court and to ensure the consent process is accurately represented.”
The Herald can reveal the council has spent $331,872 (excl. GST) on legal costs already on this case.
Brown said iwi that opposed Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei covered their own legal costs and their ongoing costs.
Blair believed the cost to the council would be higher once things such as iwi collective hui were factored in.
“This case has rolled on for seven years with consultants engaged initially to present multiple times their designs for the marina at multi ‘iwi collective’ meetings,” Blair said.
A two-day appeal is set to start at Auckland High Court today. Photo / NZME
Ngāti Whātua refuses to attend the meetings, with Blair saying they included iwi “with little or no connection to the place”.
“Being major ratepayers individually and as an iwi here in central Auckland is so frustrating when outsiders are enabled and funded by our council to hold projects up with no basis in common tikanga Māori.”
The Environment Court’s earlier decision was based on evidence rooted in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori (Māori customs and knowledge), acknowledging Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s mana whenua through conquest, ancestral rights, land gifting, and continued occupation.
Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and before joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.
