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Maori Party co-leader is backing a call by a United Nations committee for a review of the special housing area designation at Ihumatao.
In its report on New Zealand's compliance with international treaties, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination slammed the process used to green light the 480 home development by Fletcher Residential on an ancient habitation site neat Auckland International Airport.
Mr Flavell says the process, which the committee found failed the tests for either consultation or consent, split the small Maori community.
"From what I've heard from people like Pania Newton who has been fronting a lot of the stuff with Ihumatao, I think they have a consolidated view now and the destruction of some of those earthworks would be historically detrimental for the region and Ihumatao. They have taken it to the highest level in terms of the United Nations and the report has been written so I think a review is appropriate under the circumstances," he says.
Mr Flavell says the UN committee also called for an independent inquiry into the abuse suffered by those in state care or foster care in New Zealand from 1950 to 1990, and noted Maori children are still more likely to be placed in state care than non-Maori.
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