Ban stopping fisheries officers raiding Potaka marae lifted

1.00pm

A ban stopping East Coast fisheries workers from raiding the Potaka marae has been lifted, after marae elders had "brought under control" people making threats against them, the union said today.

National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) banned fisheries officers in the Gisborne region from raiding a suspected illegal marine project at the marae after they were threatened with arrest by the "Aotearoa Native Police" earlier this month.

Spokesman Martin Cooney said the officers needed stab-proof vests and other equipment .

But today, Mr Cooney said the union had been told that the people "making threats and outrageous media statements" had been brought under control by marae elders. The Fisheries Ministry was also trying to get "defensive capability" for officers.

"In that light, the union had lifted the ban on Potaka marae," Mr Cooney said in a statement.

No enforcement action has so far been taken against the aquaculture project, which is still under construction.

Fisheries ministry and Gisborne District Council officials have been meeting with hapu to try and resolve the impasse over the project, which has so far refused to get consents or licences to build a marine farm.

Maori at the marae have said they are taking back control of the project after it was hijacked by political radicals, but have rejected the union's threat claims as "scaremongering" and laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.

- NZPA