KEY POINTS:
Members of Hauraki iwi are angry they have not been consulted about the $14.6 million sale of privately owned property to overseas interests, land that includes sensitive pa sites and an urupa (graveyard).
One of Australia's biggest producers of beef, Trade Lines Malaysian, recently gained Overseas Investment Office
(OIO) permission to buy 1400ha of Adams trust family land, 400ha of which is coastal and overlooks the Firth of Thames and Hauraki Gulf.
But Hauraki Maori Trust Board spokesman John McEnteer has voiced concerns about the sale, including the approval process applied by OIO.
He said no consideration had been given to the Hauraki iwi, which had a strong cultural stake in the land to the south of Orere Pt.
The land contained 30 archaelogical sites, two pa sites and one urupa, and it was important to the country's heritage that these were preserved.
A clause in the act under which the OIO operated said a sensitivity test must be applied before approval was given.
"If this is not sensitive [land], what is?" Mr McEnteer said.
Of primary concern was that an "unwritten understanding" between the Adams family and local Maori would be lost when the new owners took over the land.
Trust board chairman Toko Renata Te Taniwha, who came from the area on which the Adams farm is sited, said the "gentleman's agreement" allowing Maori access to the land was struck more than 100 years ago, but it had never been documented.
"It's their right to sell the land, but I'm concerned about waahi tapu [sacred sites] and the historical significance of that area," he said.
A spokeswoman for the OIO said consultation with Maori did take place during the decision process, but it was not with the Hauraki Maori Trust Board.
The office had received a letter from Ngai Tai Umupuia Te Waka Totara Trust, confirming it was the recognised iwi authority for Ngai Tai. The trust were "absolute in their support" of the company that purchased the land, said the spokeswoman.
The OIO said the property was not subject to a heritage order, or a requirement for a heritage order. Further, there were no registered historic areas or waahi tapu.
No application or proposal for registration under the Historic Places Act existed, the office said.
The Overseas Investment Office was advised that adjoining land included a registered waahi tapu (an urupa) but this was not part of the sale land.
Trade Lines Malaysia, based in Western Australia, plans to develop a wagyu cross-breeding herd on the land for premium beef supply, supplemented by a sheep operation.
Wagyu is the world's most expensive red meat, which can fetch up to $1000 a kg.
The Australian company said in its application to the OIO that its proposal was likely to create new job opportunities and export receipts.
In March, Hauraki Maori were instrumental in forcing a Government rethink over the sale of coastal property when iwi members occupied Landcorp's Whenuakite block near Cook's Beach on the Coromandel.
The State-owned Enterprise Minister of the time, Trevor Mallard, said he shared the anxiety of many New Zealanders "about the high proportion of coastal land in New Zealand which is being sold off into private ownership without necessarily having the access rights which have been previously available preserved".
The protest and occupation put sale of the crown land on hold, pending a review of the sales process of state-owned coastal property.
Mr Te Taniwha said Prime Minister Helen Clark had recently said the Whenuakite sale would not proceed.