Tikanga 'trampled by protesters'

Te Runanga o Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi was deeply unimpressed when protesters disrupted the meeting with Statoil representatives in Kaitaia earlier this month (Statoil warned of unrelenting campaign, August 14).

The protesters had trampled on his mana and Maori tikanga when they overturned tables, he said.

Mr Piripi, who organised the hui at Te Ahu, said Te Rarawa opposed deep sea oil drilling but, now that the government had allowed Norwegian oil firm Statoil to begin exploring, was trying to work with the company to prevent any harmful effects.

Those discussions were cut short when protesters overturned the table the Norwegians were sitting at, then the tables for iwi leaders and kaumatua.

"It was really shocking for me to have the protest group disrupt our meeting ... They gave the impression at first that they were there to listen and participate, but as the meeting went on it became clear they were there to disrupt," he said.

The protesters had initially obliged when he asked them to leave, but returned when highly respected kaumatua John Klaricich was speaking, interrupting him and upending his table. They had put elders Selwyn Clarke and Boy Yates up to it, knowing they could do it with impunity.

"The biggest thing for me personally is that I had invited these Norwegian people, offered them hospitality.

" They [the protesters] trampled on the ancient tikanga of looking after manuhiri. It was hooliganism and thuggery," Mr Piripi said.

"I was disappointed in myself as a host, because it was my mana at stake as well."

He was also unhappy that a group of Broadwood Area School pupils, who had arrived at the hui with their teacher, were involved in pushing tables over.

Mr Piripi said Te Rarawa had made extensive submissions about wahi tapu, te ara wairua and taniwha when the sea bed off 90 Mile Beach was first put out for exploration. The government ignored the submissions and put the block out for tender anyway, but Statoil was prepared to talk with the iwi and avoid any transgressions. The company had also offered to make its findings, such as sea bed maps, available to the iwi.

Te Rarawa had planned to discuss setting up an independent, iwi-run monitoring regime. That way iwi would not have to rely on what the government and the company told them after the six-year exploration period was over. Statoil had already agreed in principle to allow iwi representatives onto their boats.

The meeting's early end was "a setback to our ability to care for and nurture the marine environment," he said.

It also meant the west coast iwi - Ngapuhi, Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa, Ngati Whatua and Te Roroa - had no chance to speak.