Posted on 27-3-2003
Pakeha
Support Ngawha
March 12, 2001
Robson's pride the North's sorrow.
The visit of former Corrections Minister Matt Robson to Northland
this week
was unfortunate timing, says the Pakeha Support Ngawha group.
The visit
followed new arrests last Thursday of three "human shields"
taking part in
a preventive action at the heavily guarded gates to the site.
The action followed a hikoi to the site on Wednesday from the
Kaikohe
courthouse where Ngawha supporters had been due to reappear.
The hikoi had
received consistent support from motorists en route, indicative
of the
opposition felt in the area. Speeches and waiata took place
near the
Corrections guardhouse which had previously been occupied for
66 days.
Mr Robson's visit also coincided with a call from those at the
site for
supporters to visit next Tuesday (18th) to mark the 100th day
of the
peaceful occupation (noho rangimarie).
After a visit to the troubled site near Kaikohe Mr Robson was
reported as
saying he was proud of the project he was instrumental in developing.
He
said he was "excited" by progress on the ravaged land, and looked
forward
to the "state-of-the-art" prison. He said the buildings had
been designed
with Maori cultural considerations from the outset, including
north-facing
cells to maximise natural light (sic).
The report did not say if Mr Robson was proud to have provoked
one of the
longest running occupations by tangata whenua the country has
known in
recent history.
Pakeha Support Ngawha spokeswoman Moea Armstrong said Mr Robson's
public
comments were at best thoughtless and at worst inflammatory
given the
community's ongoing resistance to the culturally offensive and
increasingly
expensive project. She said he appeared oblivious to the effect
of his
statements on the tight-knit rural community, which was experiencing
serious social and political repercussions from the think-big
project.
She said Mr Robson had had the opportunity to halt the ill-fated
project
during his time as Minister. He had chosen to overlook the fact
that the
Tuakino site was not included in the original list of 84 preferred
Northland sites, but had been purchased at the eleventh hour
by the
department after Ngati Rangi had refused to sell the adjoining
block, which
had been the 27th choice. The public still needed to be told
why the 25
sites between Maungatapere and Waiwhariki had been rejected,
and why the
department's own selection process had been abandoned in favour
of a new
purchase of a geothermal area.
She said Mr Robson knew of a previous proposal for a jointly
run prison on
nearby Ngati Hine land which had the backing of a significant
number of
Ngapuhi at the time. She said the reasons why this proposal
had been
rejected by department officials should have been investigated
thoroughly
by Mr Robson. The public still had the right to know why an
iwi initiative
had been rejected, and why ideas contained in that proposal
had been
appropriated by those same officials.
The Ngati Hine proposal had included an arrangement with an
Australian
company, but the Government could have taken over this role
and run the
rehabilitation centre with Ngati Hine, she said. It was inconsistent
of the
Government to talk about partnership and Treaty principles but
when handed
a viable co-management proposal on a plate had turned it down.
The decision to build at Ngawha had added insult to injury to
Ngapuhi. Mr
Robson had been informed of the inadequacy of the subsequent
consultation
at Ngawha. This consultation had ignored the findings of the
Waitangi
Tribunal in 1993 that at least 10 different tangata whenua groups
had
legitimate claim to be considered kaitiaki of the area. The
department had
chosen part of one grouping to consult, exacerbating the original
grievance
caused by the Maori Land Court last century.
She said it was also during Mr Robson's time as Minister that
the
department had sought mining rights to boron from the site.
The public
needed to be told of the end use of this mineral. Boron carbide
is used as
an abrasive and in control rods for nuclear reactors.
The report last week of an investigation by the justice select
committee
into contractural irregularities was also an indictment of the
project's
management, she said. Mr Robson, Mark Gosche and now temporary
Corrections
Minister Margaret Wilson needed to take responsibility for the
ongoing
increase caused by the department absorbing extraneous costs,
which, given
the unsuitable nature of the site, were likely to climb.
The group urged the Government to take the logical and cheaper
path of
abandoning the site and re-appraising the Ngati Hine proposal.
It also
called on Ms Wilson as Minister of Justice to drop all current
charges
against kaitiaki for trespass on their own land, citing a letter
from Mr
Gosche (November 2002) which reads "The decision not to pursue
costs and
the actions of the police in dropping the charges against protesters
signal
the desire to put the past behind us and move forward.".
She said Ms Wilson should also be budgeting for the inevitable
Waitangi
Tribunal claim for damage to Ngawha Springs. One of the most
popular of the
pools, called Bulldog, had recently gone cold.
Contact: M Armstrong 09 436 1679
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