Okahu Bay offers a glimmer of hope

By GEOFF CUMMING

Drive along Tamaki Drive on Auckland's waterfront, swing past Ferg's Kayaks into Okahu Bay and you're on Maori land. Most visitors to the bay don't even think about it. They lay down their picnic rugs beneath the pohutukawa, sunbathe on the grass, cool off in the water.

Cradled by Bastion Pt on one side and Paritai Drive on the other, it's as peaceful a spot as you'll find on the bustling waterfront.

Not for Okahu Bay the cafe strips of Mission Bay and St Heliers. Commercial activity is confined to a Mr Whippy van, parked near the changing sheds in the middle of the bay at weekends.

On the reserve across the road, 10,000 gathered last weekend for a concert. At other times, Maori, Indians, Pakeha and Polynesians fan out for a game of touch football. Most have no idea they are running over sacred ground - the former papakainga (village) razed in 1952 after Ngati Whatua were booted up the hill to Bastion Pt. That's how it got the name: Boot Hill.

The public's continued enjoyment of the beach, the reserve and much of Bastion Pt is no accident. It is the foreshore and seabed model which many Maori, and some Pakeha, would like to see - where Maori can prove customary use rights, where ownership is vested in Maori but access guaranteed for all.

That it's no big deal reflects the successful joint administration of the land by Ngati Whatua and the Auckland City Council under the 1991 Orakei Act. The act, which followed a watershed 1987 Waitangi Tribunal ruling, gave the Ngati Whatua O Orakei Maori Trust Board title to 60ha including Bastion Pt, Okahu Reserve and the beach down to the mean high water mark at Okahu Bay.

Parts of Bastion Pt, including the marae, church and ancillary buildings were reserved for the hapu (subtribe) and a nearby area designated for development.

But the rest of Bastion Pt, Okahu Reserve and the foreshore land were set aside "as Maori reservation ... for the common use and benefit of the members of the hapu and the citizens of the City of Auckland". The reserves, known as the whenua rangatira (noble or chiefly land), are administered by the Orakei Reserves Board, made up of three Ngati Whatua and three city council members.

It is an arrangement that has worked successfully for 12 years, Ngati Whatua O Orakei chairman Sir Hugh Kawharu told the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into foreshore and seabed claims last week. He went further, suggesting it as a model for the Crown to consider.

Well, not a model, he now explains, but an example which other iwi with a legitimate claim on the shoreline may consider.

"You can't say pick it up and slap it in the Bay of Plenty or anywhere else. We're not telling other people how to handle the issues."

He told the tribunal he was not wedded to the details of the arrangement. "However, what should be required is that Maori must have effective say in respect of the ongoing control, administration and management of the area of land and should be the registered proprietor.

"The key is the retention of mana."

For those searching for a way out of the deep, dark foreshore and seabed tunnel, Kawharu's submission ushered in a little light. Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere suggested the Orakei example could work in some areas and it won cautious approval from Ngati Kahu leader Margaret Mutu.

But no more than a glimmer of hope. Certainly, such arrangements would not seem possible under the "one rule for all" stance taken by National leader Don Brash this week. Brash said National would revoke any customary title awarded under the Government's proposed law.

Nor would the Government allow them. Maori could no longer gain title, or the power of veto over use of resources, under the policy proposal unveiled last month, which would vest ownership of the foreshore and beaches in the people of New Zealand as "public domain".

Kawharu, the emeritus Professor of Maori Studies at Auckland University, sees an obvious threat to Ngati Whatua. "We have the title. If this policy means we are going to lose this title, we are losing not only a piece of paper but our mana whenua."

Yet this urbane elder statesman, a graduate of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, is an acknowledged bridge-builder and his submission obviously sees room for manoeuvre. Given the Government's policy of guaranteed access to the foreshore, in cases where iwi can prove customary title, a similar hapu-council partnership could be a way to retain access and deal with use of the foreshore.

"We are saying the partnership example of resolving issues has application elsewhere, no more than that."

The Orakei Reserves Board is a low-profile body, meeting when necessary - generally quarterly. The act ensures its chairman will always be Ngati Whatua-appointed, giving it ultimate control. Kawharu, chairman since its inception, says hapu and council have forged a harmonious relationship.

The goodwill is mutual. Deputy chair Juliet Yates, a veteran city councillor and lawyer, says the partnership has worked "perfectly amicably".

"A lot depends on the procedures that we use. The reason it has been successful is because nobody has imposed a European-type committee format on the reserves board."

She cites the 10 years of consultation before a management plan was signed last May.

"People may expect things to happen too quickly. But when you have that depth of consultation, it's not going to happen overnight."

The eventual consensus meant no formal vote was needed to approve the management plan. "We work in partnership so when the time is right for a decision it's made - and we have never had a disagreement."

It helps that the hapu's aims to improve the reserves are not in conflict with the wider public's enthusiasm for open space on the waterfront. Commercial development on Okahu Reserve would also be culturally inappropriate. At one end is the urupa (burial ground), at the other the former papakainga.

Applications for licences to use the reserves for recreational or commercial activities are routinely left to council and trust board staff. The board can also grant leases.

Ngarimu Blair, the trust board's heritage and resource manager, says it receives about 35 applications every summer for activities including triathlons, concerts and filming. Activities must not cause cultural or spiritual offence.

Blair says it's "just common sense stuff" but he acknowledges lingering sensitivity among kaumatua over use of the former papakainga.

"People can still recall the trauma of being booted up the hill - we still have a real connection."

Blair is also responsible for the massive planting programme which will restore much of Bastion Pt to native bush and help stabilise eroding cliffs. Last year, 25,000 trees were planted and 130,000 will go in over the next three years.

The future use and enhancement of the reserves is now guided by the management plan. Since its signing last May, developments have gathered pace. Earthworks are under way for a new entrance to the marae. A backer has been found for a proposed $16 million cultural centre promising tourists a "real interaction" with Maori - a use seen as compatible with the act.

Resource consent application for a nursery and landcare education centre is expected to be publicly notified shortly.

Blair says the nursery will not only complement the replanting but provide training and jobs. "One of our objectives is to bring our people back."

It's a theme Kawharu picks up on. "You won't find too many Ngati Whatua down on the beach."

In the pipeline are plans for a youth sporting facility involving waka at Okahu Bay. There are moves to make the public more aware of the cultural and spiritual significance of the bay and reserve to Ngati Whatua. A long-term possibility is a tunnel under Tamaki Drive to restore the link between the former papakainga and the sea.

"You might ask," says Kawharu "what has this got to do with the foreshore? It comes back to the treaty claim and Parliament's acceptance of tribunal recommendations to return 60ha, including the foreshore. It's a mistake to pick out the foreshore and not see it in context. From our perspective it's part and parcel of the whole."

Independent resource management consultant Greg Innes is credited with nursing the management plan through consultation, gradually easing hapu members' distrust of the council. While harmony reigns in the boardroom, there has been hard talk behind the scenes.

Kawharu: "A lot of people were saying 'what was Bastion Pt all about? We got the land back, then we give it away'.

"We would argue that we've got the mana. They would respond: 'Then why do we have to listen to the council'."

And the council's requirements are not insignificant. Ratepayers pay about $600,000 a year in maintenance and allied costs, and the council expects business plans, accountability measures and other paperwork.

Innes says the reserves board's approach to governance has been the key to its success. "It is firmly focused at what's happening on the ground. A lot of the foreshore debate has been taken to abstract levels." A single, centrally imposed solution may not be the answer. Kawharu agrees: "We need not only iwi-specific but local-specific [policies]."

It's important, says Kawharu, that other iwi understand the history which led to Ngati Whatua regaining title, and the statute requiring joint administration.

"The tag was you can have the title and you can have the mana but you can't start building casinos and what have you."

The arrangement may seem contradictory, he says. "Title depends on access to others but in terms of use and development, ultimate control lies with the hapu. So it's a delicate balance.

"It's an example of what a particular relationship has succeeded in doing."

Kawharu is an expert on Maori land and treaty issues, the author of numerous books. His tribunal submission dwelt on the distinctions between Pakeha and Maori concepts of ownership. The idea of exclusive possession was alien to Maori before 1840 and there was no equivalent of universal freehold title. Even after their land was sold, Ngati Whatua did not see their mana as compromised.

"These proud beliefs were soon to be swept to one side by Crown and commerce and the hapu ultimately evicted from its papakainga and its marae razed 'in the public interest'."

What the Crown now proposes would result in the complete loss of mana, he says.

At the same time, he acknowledges the problems Pakeha have with giving Maori title and, as at Orakei, ultimate control - a fear seized on by Brash in his race relations speech.

He claimed the Government proposals would expand customary rights to include commercial use and give Maori the power to veto anyone else's development.

Kawharu's response to those worried about access is that title confers mana and "what mana allows, indeed requires, is sharing".

At Orakei, this is given statutory backing, the act guaranteeing public access and requiring that the land be administered for the benefit of the citizens of Auckland.

As for the power of veto, Kawharu says: "As chairman of the reserves board for the entire 12 years, that casting vote has never been used."