A live-in tīkanga Māori-based programme for men just out of prison plans to move to a small farming community south of Rotorua - but locals are fighting it, nervous about living among ‘high-risk offenders’ in such an isolated area. Senior journalist Kelly Makiha looks into what’s being proposed.
Updated
Why Rotorua’s Pūwhakamua ex-prisoner reintegration programme wants Waikite Valley to be its new home
What the proposed new site at Waikite Valley could look like.
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Pūwhakamua is a reintegration programme that aims to keep paroled men who have completed the required rehabilitation on the straight and narrow.
It is run by Billy Macfarlane, a reformed drug dealer who has worked to improve hardened criminals for the past six years.
The Department of Corrections has given the programme $4.6 million in funding since November 2022.
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Pūwhakamua has been operating on a leased site in the Ōwhata area since 2018. It is run by Tikanga Aroro Charitable Trust. Doug Macredie is the chairman and its website said trustees included Anette Sykes, Alistair Burns, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait and Raymond Tolley.
The trust applied for government funding in early 2023 to develop a new site on nearby Māori reservation land behind Rotokawa Baths.
But the Rotokawa landowners successfully sought an injunction through the Māori Land Court, meaning Pūwhakamua had to find another new home.
Now, Pūwhakamua plans to move to 671 Puaiti Rd at Waikite Valley, a 2.2-hectare site about 40km south of Rotorua. Resource consent was submitted to the Rotorua Lakes Council on October 17.
Plans in its consent application include:
- 10 single-occupancy accommodation cabins for residents
- Three accommodation units for staff and one for a manager
- Two ablution blocks
- A central whare with kitchen, dining, office, meeting and ablution spaces
- Parking for at least 14 vehicles
- Up to 10 residents and five staff living on-site
- Residents living on-site for six months
- Some residents being subject to electronic monitoring.
Waikite Valley residents are fighting the application, including asking the council to publicly notify the resource consent process.
About 80 people attended a council meeting on Wednesday where a letter to elected members asking the council to oppose the consent application was delivered.
Valley resident Philip Hawken told the meeting on behalf of the Waikite Valley Community Collective that the proposed site was one of “the most isolated rural locations in the region”. The group believed the proposal put the safety and wellbeing of existing residents at “significant” risk.
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A Waikite Valley local, who didn’t want to be named, told the Rotorua Daily Post this week she was nervous for the community.
“I’m not against rehabilitation programmes but this isn’t the area for it. Communications out here are very weak, there’s not very good cell phone service or internet if something was to happen. Already it is slow to get emergency services here. We are talking about high-risk offenders who are going to need constant monitoring.”
The Rotorua Daily Post understands Macfarlane’s partner recently bought the land Pūwhakamua intended to use.
Macredie responded to a range of questions put to the trust, including Macfarlane, by the Rotorua Daily Post.
Asked if Macfarlane’s partner bought the land, Macredie said the land was bought in a private sale for the purpose of a long-term whānau settlement.
“If we are successful in obtaining the required resource consent for the proposed activity, the trust will lease from the landowner for an agreed number of years.”
Macredie said the board of trustees considered many potential sites and would continue to do so as it grew and evolved.
“It was one block considered among many others all at the same time.”
Why Waikite Valley?
Macredie said the trust chose Waikite Valley because it was a special rural environment where residents could reintegrate at a “measured pace” and gain the relevant licences, qualifications and life skills to become contributing members of society.
Macredie said there were no incidents that had impacted on locals in its six-year history and police had not raised any concerns.
“We live a peaceful existence and make a point of looking after our neighbours and ensuring the continued quiet enjoyment of their own properties.
“Our pre-selection process and our six-year track record at our current location demonstrates that our involvement in this rural community will be only respectful and positive.”
How the programme works
It will house up to 10 men released on parole. Macredie said each would have completed their required rehabilitation and shown a commitment to change while in custody.
They will undertake daily life tasks and educational programmes and often do things for the community, including planting native trees, helping on marae or sharing their lived experiences as guest speakers at national events, Macredie said.
Asked if they were high-risk offenders, Macredie’s statement said no one who could not be safely managed in the community could live at Pūwhakamua.
“Men who are referred to our service go through a series of assessments from our trust and Rotorua Community Corrections while still in custody, well in advance of being granted parole by the New Zealand Parole Board.”
Active gang members were not considered.
“The institution of gangs does not align with the core values and teachings of our programme. Safety of the community is our number one priority – all residents are thoroughly assessed to ensure that they are a good fit for the programme and motivated to work with the team at Pūwhakamua.”
Macredie said Pūwhakamua staff were on-site at all times.
“This is not a justice residence nor a corrections facility – we are a small-scale tikanga Māori organisation that provides a reintegration service.”
He said staff always accompanied residents when they went off-site for appointments or group activities, and there was an overnight curfew.
Some men might be subject to either full or partial electronic monitoring and there was an open-door policy for police to enter at any time, he said.
“There is a strict no drug and alcohol policy and residents are tested on a regular basis.”
Macredie said residents breaching the rules risked their place on the programme and could be sent back to jail.
Macredie said Pūwhakamua staff had conducted door knocks and offered drop-in sessions in the Waikite Valley area within a set radius.
If the application was approved, Macredie said they hoped to have the programme operating from mid- to late-2025.
What the Department of Corrections says
Corrections began funding Pūwhakamua in November 2022. Since then, it has paid just over $4.6m.
That included a one-off grant of $2.7m in October 2023 for infrastructure upgrades.
Corrections’ communities, partnerships and pathways deputy chief executive Sean Mason said part of that money had been spent on upgrading the Ōwhata site, with some funding remaining.
He said the remaining funding might be used towards infrastructure and maintenance on the new site, if required. There was no new funding or funding specifically for a new build and Corrections had not bought the Waikite Valley site.
Mason said Corrections provided transitional housing for up to 1300 released prisoners a year, with about 15,000 released annually.
“Finding suitable accommodation for offenders who can no longer be lawfully detained in prison is one of our most significant challenges and the safety of communities is paramount in any decision we make.”
He said no offender was allowed to stay at an address if the risk could not be safely managed and public safety upheld.
“We fully acknowledge that the location of offenders can be a concern for communities and we work hard to balance this concern with our obligation to safely manage people in the community when they can no longer lawfully be detained in prison.
“The reality is that without supported accommodation, people could be homeless and living on the streets or in cars. This would present an unacceptable safety risk to communities.”
He said Pūwhakamua was not managed by Corrections but two probation officers managed the men using the service.
Pūwhakamua was responsible for finding a suitable alternative location and engaging with the local community and Mason said the expectation was they would lead a comprehensive engagement process, listen to community feedback, and work with the community to address concerns raised.
Political concerns
Rotorua MP Todd McClay told the Rotorua Daily Post he had raised the issue with Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell.
“I have a lot of concerns as do the community. This is 40-50km away where there’s no businesses, no shops, no cell phone access and no emergency services and not even internet connections in parts. It worries me and I’m very, very concerned about the location.”
McClay said he met with locals and heard their concerns.
He said he had no issue with Macfarlane’s intentions to reintegrate offenders, saying his “heart is in the right place”, but McClay believed the location was wrong.
“It is madness putting it there in the middle of nowhere. Locals are worried and scared … It feels like a disaster waiting to happen.”
Mitchell told the Rotorua Daily Post on Wednesday finding a suitable location for Pūwhakamua was an operational matter for the provider.
The Department of Corrections was “continuing to support the programme”.
He said reintegration programmes were critical to reducing crime and he supported those providing wraparound social support for parolees while keeping communities safer.
What went wrong at the last site?
Māori Land Court Judge Craig Coxhead directed in May there be an injunction in favour of the Rotokawa reservation landowners.
His May 9 decision said: “I was satisfied that given activities with regards to the Pūwhakamua project have been taking place on the reservation for a number of years, that there is a serious question to be tried.”
The direction said while the inquiry was taking place, the trustees should not carry out activities outside the purposes of the reservation, meaning the Pūwhakamua programme could not operate there.
Renee Kiriona, mana whenua at Rotokawa Baths and a vocal campaigner, said: “The pushers of Pūwhakamana need to right the wrongs they’ve done on land they’ve been operating on before they try to make a future on new land in Waikite Valley.”
In response, Macredie said Pūwhakamua’s past arrangements regarding certain uses of some of the Rotokawa Baths land was made with the elected trustees of the block appointed by the Māori Land Court. He said their activities did not need resource or building consent.
“Our primary operation has never been on the baths lands, and the various interim and storage arrangements were done with the full blessing of the legal landowner, being the bath trustees.”
Macredie said his trust applied for funding in early 2023 to develop a new site on Rotokawa Baths land and they worked for some time to secure the appropriate lease before applying for resource consent.
But Macredie said several issues were highlighted about the proposed use of the land. A separate housing development on an adjacent site was also seen as a potential issue by landowners, with concerns it might impact local kaumātua, he said.
The use of the land and its gazetted purposes was taken to the Māori Land Court, which resulted in the injunction.
The fixed-term tenancy on its Ōwhata property - where Macredie said Pūwhakamua mainly operated from - would end this month.
What stage is it at now?
A council spokesperson said a resource consent application had been received and the trust had requested that limited notification be carried out to immediate neighbours.
The spokesperson said its team was assessing the information and no decisions had been made about notification.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
