Foreshore agreement snubbed

Last updated 00:38 01/11/2008

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The signing of the first foreshore and seabed deed of settlement took on a sour note after Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia's own hapu refused to endorse the historic deal.

Te Aitanga a Hauiti hapu's rejection of the deal is highly embarrassing for Mr Horomia, who has championed the controversial foreshore and seabed legislation in the past four years.

At Parliament yesterday, Attorney-General Michael Cullen signed the Government's first foreshore and seabed deed of agreement with 48 hapu from the East Coast iwi Ngati Porou.

Mr Horomia's Tolaga Bay hapu was not listed among them.

The agreement is intended to protect the customary rights of local iwi using coastal areas, while wider public access rights also remain intact. It means Maori in areas covered by the agreement will have a greater hand in environmental decisions made by the Government.

The legislation is viewed as a major vote-catcher for Mr Horomia by the Labour Party in the buildup to next week's election.

Mr Horomia was not at Parliament for the ceremony, instead opting to stay in his electorate campaigning.

Te Aitanga a Hauiti hapu chairman Tui Marino said he was disgusted at the "disgraceful and arrogant" way in which the Ngati Porou runanga, led by Api Mahuika, had steamrolled the foreshore and seabed deal through many hapu on the East Coast.

Mr Marino said his hapu had decided to pursue its foreshore and seabed claims through the Waitangi Tribunal.

Te Aitanga a Hauiti Incorporation chairman Wayne Amaru said he tried to chair a foreshore and seabed meeting of the hapu at Tolaga Bay on Tuesday. People representing the runanga's viewpoint were brought in from outside, he said.

"They were very abusive. Anyone who spoke against the runanga's foreshore and seabed resolution were screamed down," Mr Amaru said.

The runanga supporters forced through a 42-36 ratification vote supporting the Government's foreshore and seabed proposal, he said.

He rejected the vote on the grounds the meeting had been hijacked by outsiders.

Dr Cullen and Mr Horomia declined to comment on the meeting hijack allegations last night.

The Government's 2004 foreshore and seabed legislation created huge unrest among Maori. It resulted in the formation of the Maori Party.

The agreement signed yesterday stemmed from the legislation the Government passed to overturn a Court of Appeal ruling, which found it was possible for Maori to claim freehold title to the foreshore and seabed in areas where they had maintained uninterrupted possession.

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3 comments

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Na Nga Hauitians (tuturu) #3 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

DEED OF TREACHERY

The Crown's propping up of Ngati Porou as the central iwi of the coast ignores whakapapa dating back to the 1300s, say members of Te Aitanga a Hauiti, the tribe whose lands extend from Kaiti to North of Tokomaru Bay.

The runanga has sought to make them a hapu of Ngati Porou, a tribe whose name did not commonly appear until late in the 19th century. It is only because the tribe did not ratify the deal between the Government and the runanga that the mana of the 700 year old tribe has not been wiped out at the stroke of a pen, said chairman of the Te Aitanga a Hauiti claims cluster Tui Marino

???Had Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti iwi personnel not held onto our mana tupuna, the mana of our hapu would be lost through all those who voted to ratify the deed."

???The concepts implied through the ratification process is that the mana of hapu can be relinquished simply through a count of raised hands and ???yes??? or ???no??? votes reflects the degradation of the decision-making integrity of iwi & hapu. It has been reduced to the same process of asking a class of children as to whether they want a lollipop.???

???However we are fortunate that key whanau leaders of Te Whanau-a-Te Aotawarirangi, the Potae whanau leaders of te Whanau-a-Ruataupare, the Rangiuia whanau and others of Ngati Ngaronoa, the Amaru whanau of Hapu Matua, Ngai Te Mahu, Te Aotata, Ngai Tutekohe, large sections of Ngati Konohi, Rakai-a-Tane and Ngati Oneone as well as others expect to settle our claims as respective hapu of Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti???.

???The concession by the Government this week they were wrong to deal with one iwi organisation in the Te Arawa Waitangi Treaty settlement sets a strong precedent in light of their favoring of the runanga,??? he said.

Chairman of three of the Te Aitanga a Hauiti incorporations Wayne Amaru is also concerned.

The people who backed Ngati Porou in this process have gotten themselves on the payroll. The $90million is a lot of money and there needs to be a tightening of procedures so it doesn???t disappear into the woodwork before all the rightful recipients are properly identified by the Office of Treaty Settlements???.

The Tough Keep Going. #2 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

yeah right! I give full support to our whanaunga Wayne Amaru - The abuse threats and intimidation is NOT a "whanau" trait of Hauiti- lets get beyond the shallow-talk; the FSSB is the Labour Parties "baby" from which the Deed of Agreement was spawned.

The Labour Party has depended on the FSSB with mahuika & his cronnies to illustrate an apparent endorsement of the 2004 Act by a supposed major iwi and the hapu to gain more elections

The majority of the abusive gate-crashers at Hauiti Marae were members of the local Labour Party.

I think Tui Marino is doing a good job for Hauiti I know many of our whanau support what him. I am glad of the information they give through the Gisborne Herald and the concerns Wayne gave to the Dominion about Hauiti was welcome to our whanau because we want to know whats happening on the coast. Why should our Marae have to get full consent when Ngati Porou don't? Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti is an iwi in our own right - and don't forget it! Please keep the articles coming.

Keep the kaupapa going Hauiti

Rawa Rawa Puaha #1 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Kia ora

I attended the hui in Tolaga Bay that is talked about in the article above. This is a very one-sided view of the hui.

From what I saw the only runanga representatives were api mahuika, his son the lawyer, the secretary and bailey mackey a trustee. The rest of attendees were our own hauiti people. The abusive behaviour was between our own whanau some who believe hauiti is a hapu of NGati Porou and Tui Marino and supporters who believe hauiti is a iwi independent of NGati Porou.

Frankly that is the business of hauiti to sort out not this paper. I see you have only spoken to Tui and Wayne(not a trustee of the marae). You fail to mention that Bunny Gray a trustee of Hauiti Marae was nominated to chair the meeting as well.

This story not only criticizes Parekura Horomia but the politics of hauiti and in my eyes this paper has no jurisdiction to bring that into the public arena without the full consent of Hauiti not just Mr Marino.

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