August 07, 2013
Rankin pulls rank in Heke bone saga
The man who dug up what he claims are Hone Heke’s bones says where they will be reburied is not up for public debate.
David Rankin plans to rebury the Ngapuhi warrior chief on landlocked Māori land at Putahi near Kaikohe at the end of the month.
He says he took the bones from a cave near Pakaraka because leakage from septic tanks belonging to nearby lifestyle blocks was putting the wāhi tapū at risk.
There has been criticism of Mr Rankin’s actions from within Ngapuhi, but he says people could have had their say.
"I’ve allowed two years for the iwi to talk, for the iwi to make decisions, for the iwi to call hui's, so the two years are up now and nobody's made any decisions, so the decision has been made again. I've talked to our kaumatua's in Kaikohe and relevant people. Remember, it's not about group consensus, it's not about having this Pakeha concept of big public mandate. You discuss things with key people on what's going to happen and you make those decisions, it's not up for public debate," he says.
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