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January 01, 2014
Te Atiawa switches stance on Picton marina plan
Waatea Team
Posted On January 1, 2014
A top of the South Island iwi is indicating a change of stance on further development of the Waikawa Marina near Picton.
Opposition from Te Atiawa o Te Waka a Maui was a major factor in Marlborough District Council commissioners rejecting Port Marlborough’s application for a consent to expand the marina.
The port company appealed to the Environment Court in 2011, and iwi chair Glenice Paine says Te Atiawa has since been talking with it about ways to mitigate the iwi’s concerns.
In the latest issue of the iwi’s newsletter, Ms Paine says the discussions are now on a formal and legal footing, from which the iwi hopes to gain not just action on environmental issues but future opportunities for collaboration.
She says the talks caused alarm in the hau kainga, but a series of hui and hui a iwi ended with a majority endorsing the board continuing to engage with Port Marlborough.
“The Board recognise how important it is to honour the past but we also recognise the need to look to our future,” she says.
“We have a responsibility to provide for those Te Atiawa generations not yet born, to provide them with a solid base to work from and with opportunities to explore.
"Although many iwi members thought it might be good not to develop the marina further, there is a realisation and vision that if we, Te Atiawa, want to have a say in the development and management of Waikawa Bay then the best way to do that is to be engaged, to be visible in the community and not be too quick to say ‘no’ to every opportunity that is offered.”
Glenice Paine upset many in the hau kainga in 2012 when her trust reversed course and supported New Zealand King Salmon’s application to expand salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds.
She said at the time that the board "had a responsibility to provide for the future of its people in a cultural, economic and social sense."
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