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