Farm sit-in is lawful, says hapu

A Far North hapu occupying houses on a Mangonui sheep and cattle station say they have a sovereign right to be on the property.

Ngati Aukiwa hapu claim their 18-day occupation of the farm south of Mangonui is lawful and that they are entitled to legal possession of the property under common law, international statute and acts of Parliament.

But the Office of Treaty Settlements, with which the farm is landbanked for use in a treaty settlement with local Maori claimants, says the office has legal title to the farm on behalf of the Crown.

Members of Ngati Aukiwa took over the woolshed and shearers' quarters on 2275ha Stony Creek Station on December 23 in a long-running dispute with the local Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Trust Board and the office.

Hapu members dispute the mandate of the trust board, whose representatives are recognised by the office in negotiations with the Crown over land claims in the area.

These negotiations include the future of the large Stony Creek Station, a former Landcorp property, which may become part of a commercial redress package under any final settlement.

The occupation, by up to 50 or more Ngati Aukiwa members coming and going from the farm, is to be reassessed by the office within one to two weeks unless the situation on the farm changes significantly before then.

Hapu members told the Herald their occupation was lawful and legally protected by sovereign authority.

They say they have legal possession of Waikohatu (Stony Creek Station) under unextinguished native aboriginal title.

In a written statement, they say an unconstitutional Government, its agencies, local bodies and Maori trust boards have no legal standing in law in terms of native aboriginal title.

The hapu cite the 1835 Maori Declaration of Independence as an international statute, the Treaty of Waitangi as common law doctrine, common law under the 1852 NZ Constitution Act, and Privy Council rulings between 1901 and 1914 on native title.

Ngati Aukiwa says it is protected by "sovereign authority, the Queen and her Westminster Parliament [Privy Council]."

But Office of Treaty Settlements director Andrew Hampton says that because the office has legal title to the farm on behalf of the Crown, Ngati Aukiwa have no legal basis on which to assert ownership of the property through native title or customary rights.

"The hapu may have a historical claim in relation to how the property was originally alienated," he said, "and that's what we want to negotiate a settlement for.

"They're able to negotiate that claim together with the trust board."

Mr Hampton said the office believed the hapu's ownership claims were a "distraction from the underlying issue" as to how they were represented within Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa in negotiations with the Crown.

Ngati Aukiwa issued trespass notices to the office's farm manager and the property's two permanent staff on Christmas Eve. These gave them 21 days to leave the block.

The manager has been on holiday but is expected to return to the farm this week to relieve a lone security guard of the job of checking on the property, which carries 1500 cattle and 5000 sheep.