No, no, and no again

Sorry but this is a difficult story - a story of loss, of disrespect, of money and of our current state of affairs. It does finish on a slightly positive note though

NZH

A protest campaign has erupted against a Fletchers proposal to build up to 480 homes near Auckland Airport on land that includes lava caves that were used as Maori burial sites for generations.
The 32ha site valued at $11.85 million has been designated a special housing area, which means the project is likely to be notified only to adjacent landowners.

Now we know that this government and especially nick smith and paula bennett are in trouble because of their inaction to our homeless and their uncaring attitude to those trying to help. So smith has made special housing areas.

About 100 people attended a protest meeting on Wednesday night called by a group of young cousins at the nearby Makaurau Marae, the ancestral home of the Te Waiohua people who gave Auckland its original name of Tamaki Makaurau.
But their tribal leader, Te Warena Taua, who chairs the marae committee, says he accepts the development because he could not stop it.
He led a tribal challenge in the Environment Court against extending the metropolitan urban limit outwards to include the property in 2012, but lost.

yep they lost, but that does not mean the fight is over.

Fletchers' application to the Overseas Investment Office, which was required to approve the deal because 56 per cent of the company's shares are foreign-owned, shows that it plans to vest almost half the land (16.2ha) in Auckland Council for "roads, reserves, walkways and other public amenities", including an area to be added to the historic reserve.
It says the other 16.6ha will be used to build 350-480 homes over the next eight years, including terrace, duplex and stand-alone houses.

Get that? fletchers are 56% foreign owned and this development is for one reason - to make money! Don't be fooled into thinking it is for parks or reserves or even housing NO it is to make money!

The land was confiscated by the Crown in 1863 and has been owned by the Wallace family since 1866.

Illegal and immoral - confiscated for what? because they wanted it that is why.

A Wallace descendant who grew up on the land and still lives there at age 87, Ailsa Blackwell, said she helped a friend gather "a sugar-bag full" of human bones from a cave on the farm for a school talk at Mangere Central School in about 1940.
"It was my job to hold them up at the school for the talk," she said. "The headmistress was shocked. She took them straight up to Pukaki Pa."

yep desecration of those sites over the years too

Another member of the protest group, journalist Qiane Matata-Sipu, said the group would not be satisfied even if Fletchers protected the caves.
"Look at it," she said, surveying the farmland stretching downhill from the caves. "This is all that's left. We don't want to be left with this little box [a small protected area]."

Give it back, all of it. 

And to end on a positive note

Heritage NZ Maori manager Te Kenehi Teira said the development would need an archaeological authority. "It will end up on my desk at some stage. I will take it straight to the Maori Heritage Council for a decision because of the magnitude of the place," he said.

Perhaps that will protect the sites but more is needed - the area must be given back and that will protect the site and the ancestors. 

land confiscation 2013 style

They are still confiscating Māori land and still pretending to consult with Māori when they have already made up their minds. They are still in the mindset that deliberately marginalises Māori and treats tangata whenua with disrespect. Who are they? In this instance the NZ Transport Authority and through them the Government.

Tangatawhenua.com

Hapu representatives from Ngati Hurungaterangi, Te Roro-o-te-Rangi and Ngati Uenukukopako, as well as various whanau and land trusts, met with NZTA and their consultants Opus International.

Harry Wilson, one of the NZTA Directors stood to make the announcement that the Eastern Arterial Route (EAR) option had been selected for development along the eastern lake side of Rotorua.

They couldn't care less about the people and their wishes

Spokesperson for the 3 affected hapu, Hera Naera, responded to the shock announcement.  ”We are disappointed with your decision as it will cut our whānau off from their lands.

This decision will decimate traditional wāhi tapu and disconnect whānau from their papakainga along the Owhata, Ngapuna areas.

Consultation? I don't think so, they have not listened to the wishes of the people - they couldn't care less about the people and that is their shame and this country's shame.

A new formal process had now been initiated according to the Resource Management Act (RMA), that a alteration to the designation process under the RMA would be started and that all affected parties would now be notified by email.

Mr Wilson continued by saying that NZTA and Opus would be meeting with the Rotorua District Council at 11am today to formally make their announcement.

The response of whānau and hapu members was to all walk out of the meeting showing their strong solidarity and rejection of the decision. This land confiscation is what tangata whenua are fighting against and the fight is the same fight that previous generations have fought.

A road is not more important than the wishes of tangata whenua and the decision makers will find that out the hard way I hope.

Hattip: Tangatawhenua.com