Ngati Ruanui weighed in on the seabed mining debate - as the hearing into Trans Tasman Resources' application shifted to New Pymouth.
Ngati Ruanui's Debbie Ngarewa-Packer delivered an emotional plea for the decision making committee to decline the application.
"This company is unproven. It has no track record of environmental management. It certainly has had the worst track record of Iwi engagement that we have ever come across. To get it wrong twice, and I'm going to be straight up they were worse this time, than the last."
Large numbers of Iwi turned up at the Devon Hotel, to protest against TTRL's application to mine more than 50 million tons of iron sand a year, off the coast of Patea.
"It's been difficult to sit up here and show how cross we were, that we had to get dragged out like this," Ms Ngarewa-Packer says.
At the centre of their argument - TTRL's experience - or lack thereof.
"I disagree with TTR that the methodology and extraction methods are proven. Such methods are not proven in the challenging environment of South Taranaki Bight, and to use their own words, in a very active and dynamic environment," says Ngati Ruanui representative Graham Young.
There has been no date set for a decision - however it's expected to take weeks.
Made with funding from
