KEY POINTS:
The Maori flag is now set to be raised on One Tree Hill on Waitangi Day after being denied a position atop Auckland Harbour Bridge.
The hill - without a tree since 2000, after a Maori activist fatally butchered the lone pine with a chainsaw in October 1994 - was a significant site for Maori, said Ngapuhi kaumatua Kingi Taurua.
The bridge had no wairua, or value to Maori, and was thus an inappropriate site for the Maori flag, he said after Transit NZ this week denied a request from sovereignty group Ata Tina Toa to hoist it there.
Mr Taurua said Ngati Whatua had suggested the hill as appropriate.
Permission was not required, he said - but the Auckland City Council disagrees.
"There is no flag pole on One Tree Hill ... Any structure erected would require a resource consent," said council spokeswoman Angelika Cutler. The council had not been consulted on flying the flag, but had a close relationship with Ngati Whatua and discussions were under way.
