Contested former farmland at Ihumātao has been consented for new housing developments. Photo / Michael Craig
Contested former farmland at Ihumātao has been consented for new housing developments. Photo / Michael Craig
Opinion
COMMENT
In the 1860s, at Māngere, Pukaki and Ihumātao, 3700 acres (1500ha) of land was confiscated from iwi and sold to settler families.
Ihumātao, with its sacred places, was bought by the Wallace family, who farmed it for 150 years, often using Māori labour from the neighbouring village. The ŌtuatauaStonefields was also part of their land, until it was purchased by the Manukau City Council to protect the unique archaeology and geological heritage.
In 2011, Auckland Council rezoned the rest of the land for a Special Housing Area, and Mrs Wallace sold 32ha to Fletcher Building for $28m.
Te Kawerau a Maki went to court to stop the zone change but this was dismissed. Not prepared to give up, Te Kawerau a Maki began negotiation with Fletcher to save wāhi tapu on the land that had been left out of the Stonefield reserve. They've been successful.
Leaders of the protest group Save Our Unique Landscape (Soul) said the clock is ticking (NZ Herald, May 24). Soul describes the development as "the imminent destruction of this unique treasure".
The protest at Ihumātao reflects a new, generational trend, of not accepting decisions made by iwi elders, even if those leaders have been battling for more than 40 years.
However, the sacred sites have already been saved. Soul's campaign is based on mis-information about the heritage it is trying to protect.
I've been involved in activism since the Land March, significantly Bastion Point. I know part of the attraction for an occupation at Ihumatāo is the idea of participating in a people's protest, supporting the underdog against injustice.
The face of that injustice, according to Soul, is the developer, Fletcher Building. Once, New Zealand's largest building company, now demonised as a multinational developer.
Fletcher shareholders are mostly Kiwi mum and dads with a 20 per cent offshore stake. If this land was owned by the Salvation Army, would there a protest?
Mrs Wallace didn't want to sell the land to the original land owners and chose Fletcher Building instead. It has successfully defended all court action.
Iwi have won too. Land to be returned, the inclusion of 120 affordable houses 40 for mana whenua - and high-value environmental and cultural mitigations. But that's upset Soul.
This isn't a Treaty issue. No private land is used to settle Treaty claims, even if it was stolen in the first place. Iwi have accepted this. Settlements represent less than 1 per cent of what had been wrongfully taken. We all know and accept that we are not going to get it all back. Or have we?
The protest at Ihumātao reflects a new, generational trend, of not accepting decisions made by iwi elders, even if those leaders have been battling for more than 40 years.
I recall Joe Hawke's speech on receiving his Kawariki award in 1990 at Waitangi. He said: "It took 20 years to heal the division within Ngāti Whātua" following Bastion Point.
Ngāti Whātua has demonstrated the value to all Aucklanders of having a united iwi to engage with; commercially, ecologically and socially for the wellbeing of the land and people.
This begs the questions:
Pita Turei. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Why are academics, those leading Soul, demanding Māori land be returned to all New Zealanders? Isn't that what Governor Grey did?
What's wrong with iwi owning the lands of their ancestors?
Why drive a wedge into the unity of local hapu and iwi, and how long will it take to heal?
Why are they questioning the legitimacy of iwi leadership to represent and negotiate, as if they know what's best for iwi, more than iwi ever could?
Leave Ihumātao to those whose land it was, and land it is.
• Pita Turei is an historian, builder and iwi advocate in Tamaki
