New jail 'no threat to spiritual values'

Building a 350-bed jail at Ngawha, near Kaikohe in Northland, would not disturb the site's Maori spiritual values, a cultural expert told the Environment Court yesterday.

Wira Gardiner, former chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri and a cultural issues consultant, was giving evidence for Corrections Minister Matt Robson.

The minister is appealing against the Northland Regional Council's decision to deny resource consents for the jail on cultural grounds.

Two appeals are also being heard against the jail proposal.

"The mauri [life spirit] of water and land is likely to come under greater threat of degradation from farming pollutants and previous mining activities, than from the proposed [prison] works and activities on the site," Mr Gardiner said.

He rejected opposing evidence that water flowing through the site was tapu because of battles fought in the area.

There was no evidence of wahi tapu (sacred sites) on the proposed prison site, Mr Gardiner said.

He accepted that Ngati Rangi believed the Ngawha area was home to a taniwha, but he rejected the idea that it would be harmed by the construction or presence of a prison.

"The essential nature of the taniwha is internal to the minds of those who uphold its presence and thus physical changes [to the site] are unlikely to deter that presence."

Mr Gardiner outlined the complexities of the whakapapa (genealogy) that established Ngati Rangi as the hapu of the area, and Bishop Waiohau (Ben) Te Haara and Gordon Te Haara as senior kaumatua who had authority to speak for the land.

Both men support the prison plan.

The department had consulted the Te Haara family as primary kaitiaki (custodians) of the site.

Mr Gardiner said the concerns of prison opponents relating to Ngawha Springs, rather than the Tuwhakino Block jail site, were "premised on a misunderstanding of basic geographical and historic facts ... and a willingness to stretch the tikanga of tapu and taniwha to serve a convenient point".

Council commissioners were wrong to give more weight to the opponents' submissions than those of the legitimate kaitiaki.

- NZPA