Ngāi Te Rangi held a peaceful maritime protest in Tauranga Harbour today to express discontent with the government’s slow response to historical land grievances.
The hapū and iwi of Ngai Te Rangi aimed to draw attention to longstanding issues that deeply impact their community, and seek timely resolution and justice from the Crown.
Ngai Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley says today’s effort marks the beginning of an 11-stage protest plan they intend to undertake.
He emphasises that this protest is the most peaceful one they had organised so far.
“We have given the port authorities, the police and the harbourmaster, three weeks’ notice on where we are going to protest and where we are doing it but this is the first of 11 stages of protests and this is a real gentlemen’s one.”
Ngai Te Rangi says the intent of this protest is to fervently advocate for prompt and decisive action in resolving historic land grievances with the Crown and at this stage, its people are aiming to persist in their protests to safeguard their rights to their historic waters and land.
Stanley says today’s peaceful protest aims to capture the government’s attention, and achieving this goal requires only one vessel to block pilot vessels from entering and exiting the port.
“We blocked the pilot boat coming in and out as a way of telling the government that we are not happy because we are not happy that they have been lethargic settling our grievances, about how they stole our land and we feel strongly that the government has an intent but I’m not sure if it’s just a decade or not.”
Although Ngai Te Rangi highlights that this is only the first initial phase of an escalating yet peaceful campaign, Stanley says this is not the last.
“This is the first of 11 stages which says, if you don’t start putting some urgency into it, you better start resolving our settlement because we have been waiting too long.”
“We have a Waitangi Tribunal case that says that you were wrong, you have suffered the biggest defeat for a very long time at the Waitangi Tribunal and now we need to get it along the way and start playing ball.”