E whakapono ana te iwi o Ngāti Ranginui he takahi te mahi whakawhānui anō i te Wāpu i te Tiriti o Waitangi me te Whakataunga i hainatia ai e te Karauna ki a rātou he kotahi tau ki muri.
“Kei konei mātou ngā kaupapa katoa o Ngāti Ranginui e kiia nei ko te Settlement Trust, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui me Te Kupenga Hao o Ngāti Ranginui, Te Taratī Ika o Ngāti Ranginui ki te whakahē tēnei tono,” hei tā Charlie Rahiri, te Heamana o Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui.
“Ko te oranga tonutanga o Te Awanui, koirā te mea nui. E ai kia mātou he tangata a Te Awanui. Mehemea ka patua mātou i too mātou nei tupuna ka mate ia. Koirā te tino take,” hei tāna anō.
E toru ngā rā i tēnei wiki ka noho te Pae Whiriwhiri Whakaae ki te whakarongo ki ngā hapū me ngā iwi o Tauranga Moana e pā ana ki te tono a te kamupene o te Wāpu o Tauranga ki te whakawhanake ake i tētehi atu pito o te wāpu kia keri i te tākere o Te Awanui, kātahi ka whakawhānui i te wāpu kia whai tūranga anō ngā mihini hiki e whā.
“Ko ngā ara katoa, e ara ana ki te pōti, a Ngāi tātou te iwi Māori ko ngā mamae katoa, ka tau tonu ki runga i a tātou,” hei tā Charlie anō.
Ngāti Ranginui entities unite to challenge Port fast track expansion
Ngāti Ranginui representatives, including Kiritapu Allan, have presented their formal opposition to the Fast Track expert consenting panel regarding the proposed Stella Passage Port expansion.
The iwi argues that the development poses a direct threat to the mauri and mana of Te Awanui, their ancestral harbour, and contends that the project represents a breach of the Tiriti settlement signed with the Crown just one year ago.
“So, with respect to the application – Ngāti Ranginui’s position is you cannot undermine the mauri and the mana of Te Awanui. If you do that, you undermine the mana and the mauri of all of ngā uri o Tauranga Moana,” says Kiritapu Allen, spokesperson for Ngāti Ranginui.
“The port cannot unilaterally determine what is in the best interest of Te Awanui, that the Crown must uphold its obligations under the settlement that it just entered into with us one year ago,” she said.
“So we’re saying, well to the Crown, uphold your obligations and commitments that you made just one year ago to Ngāti Ranginui. To the port, you have to do better than what you’ve done, because we’ve all seen the impacts of the degradation to our moana.”
The fast track consenting expert panel has been hearing submissions from hapū and iwi for the past three days regarding the Port of Tauranga’s Stella Passage Development. The panel’s due to make a decision on September 7.