This week the Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment bill was drawn from Parliament’s ballot.
Introducing the bill, Green MP Huhana Lyndon said not one more acre of Māori land should be taken by the Crown. The bill aims to address a part of the Public Works Act 1981, which allows Māori freehold land and customary land to be taken without the consent of Māori communities.
“Kua tae ki te waa mo tenei kawanatanga ki te mahi tika mahi pono m te iwi maori kia kore e riri nga whenua nei ki raro i te ture public works”
“It’s time for the government to do the right thing for Māori, so that another acre isn’t taken under the Public Works Act,” she said.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones said that, without suitable land for roads and wharfs, the cost to the people would be significant.
“Tērā ētahi wā pēnā e hiahia ana he rori hou, he waapu hou ko tāku ki a tātou tēnā pea he wāhi hei āmene mai kia tuku i te whenua, kia oti te rori, kia oti te wāpu. Ki te kore ngā rori, ki te kore ngā wāpu tērā tō tātou motu ngā taka ki te pōharatanga”
“When there is a need for a new road, a new wharf and there is land that the tribes will agree to give, then the road will be completed, the wharf can be completed. If we don’t have roads or wharf, I say that we will continue to slip in to poverty,” he said.
‘Kahore - no more’
Local mana whenua member Nicki Wakefield said it was crazy that Māori land could still be taken under the act.
“We’re not looking at the past - we are just saying kahore, no more” she said.
Historically land has been taken for roads, schools, police stations, railways and airports. Lyndon aims to change that.
“I tenei waa kei te rangahau te nui engari mohio marika au ki te taitokerau penei i te pokapu o whangarei enei whenua o ahi pupurangi ahi hiauwa ana i riro i raro i era tumomo ture”
“At present we’re still doing research but I know for a fact that in Northland, the Whangarei CBD, Ahi Pupurangi and Hihiaua were lost under this legislation.”
Earlierhe New Zealand Settlements Act enabled the confiscation of land owned by Māori, who rebelled against the British Queen’s authority, was given to Pākehā settlers.
With the wars of the 1860s and the growing number of European settlers, more than four million acres of Māori land were confiscated, including large areas of Waikato.
Lyndon says the aim of the legislation is mokopuna-focused ensuring that there will be land left to mokopuna and not taken under the Public Works Act.
