Nga Rauru manager urges conservation board to appeal mining decision

Ngā Rauru's (from left) Anne-Marie Broughton, Ora Hohaia, Mary Bennett, Renee Bradley, Ngaire Luke, Arareina Davis, Leaara Kauika-Stevens and Mahalia Tapa-Mosen oppose seabed mining. Photo/ supplied

Ngā Rauru kaiwhakahaere and former Taranaki/Whanganui Conservation Board chairwoman Anne-Marie Broughton is urging the board to take steps to overturn last week's seabed mining decision.

In it the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) gave marine consent for Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) to mine ironsand 22km off the Patea coast. The consent is still subject to appeal.

South Taranaki's Ngā Rauru iwi strongly objects to the seabed mining proposal. It plans to appeal it, possibly in combination with other objectors. Any appeal must be lodged before August 31.

Ms Broughton, the iwi kaiwhakahaere (general manager), was on the conservation board for six years, most recently as chairwoman. She said it represented community views and most of its members were angry when the Department of Conservation (DoC) didn't let them know it would not oppose the mining application.

At the board's November meeting regional DoC director David Speirs apologised for not telling the board that it had been working with TTR and that it would not be making a submission.

The board and department don't necessarily agree on all issues, and the mining application was one they did not agree on. In November Mr Speirs told the board it could have its own views, and it could ask the department for legal help to express them.

Ms Broughton urges the board, under interim chairman Dr Te Tiwha Puketapu, to use the board's advocacy role and do just that - starting by getting a legal opinion on whether the board has grounds for an appeal.

Her iwi wants that legal help to be sourced from outside the department, in case the department's counsel is biased.

"The department abdicated its responsibility to the community and failed to protect the environment by not participating in the consent application process. We believe the conservation board cannot rely on DoC's internal legal stream in this matter."

Former board member and associate environmental planning Associate Professor Christine Cheyne said Ms Broughton's request for the board to support her iwi is reasonable.

"It is important for [the board] to respond favourably to the request of Te Kaahui o Rauru. This is consistent with the board's statutory role and powers."

DOC had failed to exercise its advocacy power, perhaps because it was under-resourced or over-restructured. It failed fulfill its statutory obligations, and had created an information gap in the decision making process.

The decision was a very divided one, Ms Cheyne noted, and there was lots of contestability about the evidence.

"A casting vote is a very poor basis for decision making, especially on such a significant proposal. More consensus is needed."