An accusation that iwi are deceiving councillors with false history has been rejected as offensive by a New Plymouth committee.
Ivan Howe told New Plymouth District Council’s new public engagement committee they needed to learn local history to avoid being hoodwinked by iwi who were “having a lot to say”.
“You’ve got the iwi coming in here … and they’re giving you advice – and the councillors they don’t know what the iwi’s talking about,” said Howe.
“They’ll tell you what they think, and what they think happened and the councillors [have] got no argument to counter it.”
Howe also questioned whether Māori are indigenous.
“We’re all settlers here in NZ: Māori, Pākehā, Chinese we’re all settlers because we all came by boat – and before Māori got here its possible there were other people here.”
He said there were very different versions of what happened at Parihaka, that an early waka found people already living up the Waitara River and that the land between Onaero and Urenui was sold in 1873 – not confiscated.
Councillor Te Waka McLeod isn’t a committee member but attended Wednesday’s meeting online and objected that Howe’s narrative was simply wrong.
“Everything that he’s said around Māori, right from the beginning when he said the wool’s being pulled over our eyes by iwi – that’s incorrect.”
After the meeting McLeod said the truth about war and land confiscation had been widely known for at least 30 years, since the Waitangi Tribunal published its Taranaki Report Kaupapa Tuatahi in 1996.
In 1865 Governor George Grey confiscated the whole of Taranaki, declaring that Māori who fought back against settler encroachments had rebelled against Queen Victoria.
Multiple Crown inquiries later found the rebellion charge was unfounded, meaning the confiscations breached the law – but the land was not given back.
McLeod said subsequent Treaty settlements for each of the five iwi in New Plymouth District laid out what happened – a history accepted, acknowledged and apologised for by the Crown.
“There’s lots of agreements signed between the Crown and our people,” said McLeod, the councillor for NPDC’s Māori ward Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa
McLeod said Howe appeared to have no knowledge of tribal histories sustained by iwi but the truth was readily available to councillors.
“The council actually has a record within our system to help us learn about the history of Taranaki – that’s already available for each councillor to click on and learn.”
Mcleod questioned who was vetting speakers to the Public Engagement Committee, established by new mayor Max Brough so citizens could speak directly with councillors.
Committee deputy chair John Woodward moved to shut down Howe’s presentation, saying it was disrespectful to councillors and the watching public.
“With all due respect you’ve had a few warnings,” Woodward said.
“I’m going to ask that the deputation be stopped now – to be honest this is not going anywhere.”
Official council minutes of the meeting include a note that Howe’s presentation was “terminated in accordance with Standing Order 16.2 for being offensive.”
That clause of the council’s rules says a deputation can be terminated if the speaker is “repetitious, disrespectful or offensive.”
LDR is local body journalism funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
