Activist: One Tree Hill part of 'political illusion'

Damage done to the tree on Auckland's One Tree Hill in a chainsaw attack by Maori activist Mike Smith. Photo / Getty Images

The Maori activist who took a chainsaw to the old pine on Auckland's Maungakiekie- One Tree Hill said attending next year's planting of a new grove of trees was not a "priority".

While he hasn't ruled out going altogether, these days Mike Smith's focus has been taken up with his efforts to get climate change on the political agenda.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown had expressed his hope the activist would attend the planting penned down for next year's Matariki - Maori New Year.

The Tupuna Maunga o Tamaki Makaurau Authority in partnership with Auckland Council had announced the plans to return trees to the ancestral mount yesterday afternoon.

While both groups were at the summit yesterday - the decision to bring the trees back was made entirely by the Maunga authority.

Mr Brown said the trees were a symbol of a more "united city" that had moved beyond the grievances of the past.

"This is against the backdrop of the resolution of most of the iwi grievances...we are able to see the resolution of those settlements by and large in place."

However Mr Smith said while politicians might believe these trees symbolised hopes of a "new dawn", the life for many Maori were not so rosy.

"I find it difficult to believe as social indicators show there are growing levels of social inequality."

He said the many deals politicians spoke of were just "political spin" and that there were still massive levels of discontent among certain iwi.

Mr Smith wasn't opposed to the planting and understood the emotional resonance many had with having trees on top of One Tree Hill.

But he said it was all part of a "political illusion".

Given his interest in climate change Mr Smith didn't have faith the trees would even withstand the changing environment.

"It's futile to be planting these given the set of circumstances," he said. "If council is serious it's better they challenge the fossil fuel agenda...it's the only way these trees will have a chance of survival."

Trees have long had a chequered history atop the mount. Settlers reportedly cut down the first native tree at the summit in the 1850s.

Sir John Logan Campbell replanted a grove of totara and pine trees in the 1870s but only one Monterey pine at the summit survived.

In 1994, Mr Smith took a chainsaw to the pine out of frustration over the Government limiting Maori Treaty settlements to $1 billion.

He was arrested for "interfering with a tree without resource consent" and convicted and sentenced to nine month's periodic detention.

Relatives of Mr Smith then attacked the tree with a chainsaw in 1999.

He neither confirmed nor denied any future protest action at the summit.

However he said protest was part and parcel of the democratic society that we live in.

"I will continue to take part in non-violent direct action."