Tribal members of Ngāti Takapari, Te Waiariki, and Ngāti Kororā are maintaining their opposition to the Ngunguru Sandspit and Protection Society’s (NSaPS) bid to see their alienated ancestral lands sold.
A member of the group, Neta Kerepeti, says the collective hapū does not support the society's proposal for the ancestral land to be bought and turned into a reserve.
"We’ve asked the ministers to consider whether they are speaking to the right people and to date we are yet to have some meaningful engagement with Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allen."
Allen said her department engaged with hapū "but after my inquiries, I’m not satisfied the hapū entities have been sufficiently engaged in the advice provided to me."
Letters of notification have been sent to ministers and officials including Kiritapu Allen, Andrew Little and local Taitokerau Labour MP Kelvin Davis to try to stop the sale of land at Ōpāpaka Beach in Ngunguru.
"This is about restoring the whenua to our mokopuna and future generations," Kerepeti says.
Hāpu's third meeting
Allen says she asked her department to engage thoroughly with the representative hapū entities and also requested further information on the financial implications for DoC of managing the land should it come to the Crown.
The sale of land includes Whakairiora mountain, Pīmanu sandspit and Rangikōrero pā bought and placed in Crown ownership and into public reserve.
This comes following a third meeting of the hapū in as many months since December, hosted on the ancestral land subject to sale at Ōpāpaka Beach, Ngunguru, on Saturday, February 19. Some 90 hapū members attended, and a number also joined online, to discuss a hapū response and action to the conditional sale and purchase agreement currently held by NSaPS, which is seeking support from the Department of Conservation.
Kerepeti said meeting on the whenua below Rangikōrero pā, with Pīmanu and Whakairiora maunga in view "was the perfect place for our people to discuss with serious consideration the potential loss of ancestral lands to NSaPS and the Crown.”
At the second of three hapū meetings, held in January, Ngāti Takapari, Te Waiariki and Ngāti Kororā considered a range of options from full loss to full repatriation that included whether the hapū could support the society's proposal.
Hāpu-led favoured
That meeting was near unanimous for a “hapū-led” purchase. At the third of three hapū meetings, those gathered at Ōpāpaka Beach were asked to consider the two pathways, “hapū-led and hapū-owned” or “NSaPS-led and Crown-owned”.
The descendants of Ngāti Takapari, Te Waiariki and Ngāti Kororā took time to caucus as families of the
three hapū to consider the two pathways. Families were asked to stand and report their family's position
on the two options proposed.
"I’ll be in a better position to make a decision based on more information I have requested, and I expect this advice to come through in approximately three weeks' time," Minister Allen said.
"I note that to date, the Society has proposed that the tripartite management agreement which exists between the Department, the Society and the local hapū for the adjoining sandspit (public land) would be extended to cover the new area. Under this agreement, DOC provides no financial input to the management of the area."
Minister Allen adds, "As I’ve stated prior, I would welcome a meeting with the hapu entity next time in Whangarei."