Latest news with #RachelArnott
RNZ News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Waitangi Tribunal registers claim calling for urgent hearing into fast tracked plans to mine seabed off Pātea
The Waitangi Tribunal is considering a claim filed by south Taranaki iwi Ngāti Ruanui concerning a Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) shallow-seabed mining project approved under the Fast Track Approvals Act 2024. Ngāti Ruanui has lodged an application for an urgent hearing asking the Tribunal to investigate alleged breaches of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in the fast-track approvals process . The Tribunal says the claim has been added to the register but a hearing has not yet been granted and is still being considered. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust Kaiwhakahāere Rachel Arnott said the legislation excluded iwi and hapū from meaningful engagement when it mattered most. "The government has failed comprehensively under fast-track to consult with tangata whenua, ignored the Supreme Court and is failing to apply the principles of Te Tiriti. "Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and this government is doing it all wrong The tribunal will now consider whether the government has breached Treaty of Waitangi principles and if it failed to sufficiently involve or consider rangatiratanga, kaitiakitanga and the customary rights of Ngāti Ruanui. The tribunal stated the iwi's claim falls within the scope of the Natural Resources and Environmental Management kaupapa inquiry . Along with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, other claimant groups include: Groups outside Taranaki facing applications have also joined, including Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki All eight Taranaki iwi have publicly opposed the seabed mining project. In May, Ngā Iwi o Taranaki released a statement on behalf of the eight post-settlement governance entity iwi of Taranaki, voicing their support for South Taranaki iwi in their opposition to seabed mining off the coast of Pātea. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Iwi granted Waitangi Tribunal hearing into fast-tracked plans to mine seabed off Pātea
People marching through Patea in a hīkoi to oppose seabed mining, on 2 October, 2024. Photo: Supplied/ Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust The Waitangi Tribunal has granted iwi a hearing into the way the Fast-track Approvals Act has been used to seek approval to mine the seabed off Pātea. Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) has applied under the legislation to mine in the South Taranaki Bight. South Taranaki iwi Ngāti Ruanui asked the tribunal to investigate alleged breaches of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in the fast-track approvals process . Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust Kaiwhakahaere Rachel Arnott said the legislation excluded iwi and hapu from meaningful engagement when it mattered most. "The government has failed comprehensively under fast-track to consult with tangata whenua, ignored the Supreme Court and is failing to apply the principles of Te Tiriti. "Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and this government is doing it all wrong." The tribunal will now consider whether the government has breached Treaty of Waitangi principles and if it failed to sufficiently involve or consider rangatiratanga, kaitiakitanga and the customary rights of Ngāti Ruanui. The tribunal stated the iwi's claim falls within the scope of the Natural Resources and Environmental Management kaupapa inquiry . Along with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, other claimant groups include: Groups outside Taranaki facing applications have also joined, including Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki. All eight Taranaki iwi have publicly opposed the seabed mining project. In May, Ngā Iwi o Taranaki released a statement on behalf of the eight post-settlement governance entity iwi of Taranaki, voicing their support for South Taranaki iwi in their opposition to seabed mining off the coast of Pātea. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- 1News
Waitangi Tribunal asked to halt Taranaki seabed mine fast-track
South Taranaki hapū want the Waitangi Tribunal to halt a fast-track bid to mine the seabed off Pātea. Trans-Tasman Resources has applied under the new Fast-track Approvals Act to mine in the South Taranaki Bight for 20 years. The mining and processing ship would churn through 50 million tonnes of the seabed annually, discharging most of it back into the ocean in shallow water just outside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit. Hapū and iwi are seeking a tribunal injunction to block processing of Trans-Tasman Resources' fast track application. The claimants want an urgent hearing into alleged Crown breaches and are seeking to summon Crown officials they say are responsible. ADVERTISEMENT They say the Crown failed to consult tangata whenua, breaching Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and ignored a Supreme Court ruling against the seabed mine. Rachel Arnott - seen here with kaumatua Ngāpari Nui at the NPDC committee now accused of bias - says unlike the miners Ngāti Ruanui will never leave South Taranaki, and will never give up. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) To get an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing, applicants must be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant and irreversible prejudice as a result of current or pending Crown actions. Lead claimant Puawai Hudson of Ngāruahine hapū Ngāti Tū said their moana was rich in taonga species. 'If seabed mining goes ahead, we lose more than biodiversity, we lose the mauri that binds us as Taranaki Mā Tongatonga (people of south Taranaki),' Hudson said. The area was also subject to applications under the Marine and Coastal Area Act – the law that replaced the Foreshore and Seabed Act. 'This is not consultation – this is colonisation through fast-track.' ADVERTISEMENT The applicants' legal team, who were also of Ngāruahine, said the Wai 3475 claim broke new ground. Legal tautoko Alison Anitawaru Cole and Te Wehi Wright said the Court of Appeal proved the Tribunal's powers to require Crown action, in urgent and prejudicial cases, when it summonsed Oranga Tamariki's minister Karen Chour. They argued the tribunal ought also be able to halt other urgent and prejudicial Crown actions – such as processing Trans-Tasman Resources' application under the Fast-track Approval Act. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including a push to lift our superannuation age, rising Middle East tensions, and Auckland's amateur footballers face off against global giants. (Source: 1News) Taranaki claimants • All hapū of Ngāruahine iwi • Their school Te Kura o Ngā Ruahine Rangi ADVERTISEMENT • Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui • Ruanui hapū including Ngāti Tupaea • Parihaka Papakainga Trust. Groups outside Taranaki facing Fast-track Approval Act applications have also joined, including Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki. As opponents pressed their claim, Trans-Tasman Resources was due to argue its case this week at New Plymouth District Council. Trans-Tasman has said opposition to seabed mining lacked scientific credibility and the waste sediment it discharged would be insignificant given the load already carried by the turbid Tasman Sea. Trans-Tasman Resources managing director Alan Eggers was expected to lay out his wares to councillors at a public workshop on Wednesday morning. ADVERTISEMENT The company promised an economic boost in Taranaki and Whanganui, creating more than 1350 New Zealand jobs and becoming one of the country's top exporters. The only known local shareholder, millionaire Phillip Brown, last week was reported to be lodging a complaint to New Plymouth District Council, alleging bias by its iwi committee Te Huinga Taumatua. The Taranaki Daily News reported that Brown thought tribal representatives and councillors on the committee talked for too long during a deputation opposed to Trans-Tasman Resources' mining bid. Te Huinga Taumatua co-chair Gordon Brown noted after the hour-and-a-quarter discussion that it was was a record extension of the officially-allotted 15 minutes. The committee, including Mayor Neil Holdom, voted that the full council should consider declaring opposition to Trans-Tasman Resources' mine when it was due to meet on Tuesday, June 24. Phillip Brown was reported to believe the meeting was procedurally flawed and predetermined. Iwi liaison committees in north and south Taranaki typically relaxed debate rules to allow fuller kōrero. ADVERTISEMENT Taranaki Regional Council's policy and planning committee recently reached a rare accord on dealing with freshwater pollution when its new chair – Māori constituency councillor Bonita Bigham – suspended standing orders in favour of flowing discussion. Ngāti Ruanui has stood against Trans-Tasman for over a decade, including defeating its application in the Supreme Court. Rūnanga kaiwhakahaere Rachel Arnott said the Crown should know mana whenua would never give up. 'We are still here because our ancestors never gave up fighting for what is right. "Tangaroa is not yours to sell: we will never leave, we will be here way beyond Trans-Tasman Resources, they have no future here.' LDR is local body reporting co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
