The protesters confronted Resources Minister Shane Jones. Photo / RNZ, Peter de Graaf
By Peter de Graaf – RNZ
Up to 100 protesters have confronted Resources Minister Shane Jones in Whangārei in a show of opposition to two fast-track projects they say will cause long-term harm to the environment.
The at-times raucous protest took place in driving rain on Saturday afternoon, as party faithful were arriving for a New Zealand First meeting at McKay Stadium.
Some protesters had travelled from the Bay of Islands to oppose a planned 250-berth marina at isolated Waipiro Bay, near Russell, while others came from Bream Bay to highlight their concerns about a large-scale, offshore sand-mining proposal.
Both projects are currently making their way through the Government’s fast-track consenting process.
The Waipiro Bay Marina, if it goes ahead, will involve significant dredging and reclamation, loss of public access and the construction of up to 250 berths – including 14 for 50m superyachts – as well as shops, parking and a boat ramp.
Kohu Hakaraia, of Te Rāwhiti hapū Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha, said the fast-track process silenced community voices.
“We’re deeply concerned that nine hectares or more will be gifted to a private developer for their own profit,” Hakaraia said.
“This has been a kai gathering spot for our whānau for generations. Our rangatira Te Wharerahi lived on the pā there. It’s got a lot of cultural and environmental significance for our whole community, Māori and Pākehā.”
Hakaraia said the fast-track system was unfair because developers had money to commission reports and hire any number of experts. All the hapū could do, with limited funds, was try to rebut their claims.
“We’re really marginalised and disadvantaged because we don’t have the same resources as they do. It’s David and Goliath,” she said.
Jones was unapologetic when he came out to address the protesters.
He told the crowd his bottom line was that he was pro-industry and pro-economic growth.
“Politics is a contest of ideas and I accept the ideas you represent are not consistent with what I stand for, but that’s what democracy is about. You have the right to protest, and I have the right to run my narrative on behalf of my leader and the party we belong we to,” he said, his voice drowned out at times by chants of “Shame on Shane”.
If a project was rejected under the fast-track process, it should be for reasons of science, Jones said.
“Let it not be on hyperbole or hysteria. Let it be on studies to do with the ocean, while also taking account of economic development. Trust in the process that’s been set up. That’s not unreasonable to ask,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bream Bay Guardians spokesman Malcolm Morrison said his community was deeply concerned by McCallum Brothers’ proposal to mine roughly nine million cubic metres of sand over 35 years.
“The problems with sand mining in Bream Bay is that it’s a closed sand system. Once you’ve taken sand out, it’s not replaced by sand from the ocean, its just gone. And once that happens, the beaches will start degrading.”
Morrison said the process of “sucking up sand with a giant vacuum cleaner” would kill or maim vast numbers of scallops.
He was hoping Jones would cancel the project’s fast-track process before it even reached the expert panel stage.
If that didn’t happen, the group had a fighting fund ready, he said.
“We will be fighting tooth and nail with our experts against anything that anyone else puts up ... and if that fails, we’ll be monitoring them until they want to go home.”
Jay Howell, who lived near the proposed Waipiro Bay development, said both the Russell Boating Club and the Ōpua Cruising Club were strongly opposed.
While jobs were badly needed in Northland, the marina would not provide substantial numbers of jobs as claimed by the developers, Azuma Property and Hopper Developments, or by the minister, Chris Bishop, he said.
“The fast-track process takes away Northland’s voice to determine how Northland should be developed, and we do need development. We just need sensible development that the community is involved in. This is being imposed on us and it’s being developed for the wealthy.”
The number of jobs cited in the marina’s fast-track application had been “grossly over-exaggerated” by adding long-term jobs and short-term construction roles together and claiming the total was valid for a 30-year period, Howell said.
Kororāreka Marae chairwoman Deb Rewiri, of Russell, said her concern was with the process.
“It doesn’t actually give an opportunity for whānau, hapū and iwi in that whole consultation process. It’s not okay, not in a democracy,” she said.
Jones, the Resources Minister, said Northland had always been known for its colour and protest.
“But hey, I come from that tradition as a young teenager, so as irritating as it may be, I have to accept it is what it is ... but I do engage with it and I’ve got to make sure we don’t come across as too dismissive,” he said.
However, Jones said if people shouted or swore, they would get return fire from him.
“They should expect it, I come from Awanui [a small town north of Kaitāia]. I’m not afraid of engaging. There’s that famous Ngāpuhi saying, te kaupapa, tātāngia, te tangata, kei wetewetengia. Which means be hard on the issue and soft on the personality.”
Jones said it was “an exaggeration” to claim the fast-track process had robbed people of their voices.
“All of the local councils, which are a proxy for the community voice, and all of the tangata whenua have wide-scale opportunities. Indeed, there will be people appointed to the expert panel, not only by tangata whenua, but by the local council. Now, whether that’s a good idea or a bad idea, that’s in the law, so I think it’s an exaggeration. They may be fearful their particular priorities aren’t accurately reflected, but I guess that’s just a contest of ideas.”
His personal take on the Waipiro Bay Marina was that it should go ahead “as soon as possible”.
“It’s in an economically parched area of Northland. I utterly reject the orca lady saying that somehow a marina is going to worsen the survival prospects of the killer whale. And the sand project – provided it’s dealt with on the basis of economic rationalism and scientific robustness, let’s just see what the result is. But we do need sand. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. We have oodles of sand off the coast of Northland and it’s up to the oceanographers and scientists to identify how to manage those risks, not hysteria.”
– RNZ