September 21, 2018
Storm over Horowhenua Lake water as trust roiled
PHIL TAUEKI INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
A beneficial owner of Lake Horowhenua hopes a change of the lake’s trustees will mark a new start for the polluted awa.
The Māori Appellate Court has sacked the previous trust, ruling Judge Michael Doogan should have recused himself from appointing the trust in 2016 because he previously worked for or with some of the members.
Phil Taueki, who took the case, says some of the trustees had there more than a decade and undermined the rights of the lake’s Muaūpoko owners through actions such as setting up a lake accord with Horizons Regional Council and the Horowhenua District Council.
"The Lake Accord is going to apply for resource consent to continue to put the stormwater in our lake for a further 30 years and they will have the lake trustees and the Muaūpoko Tribal Authority, the so-called tribal authority, ticking the boxes for them. We we still have problems to deal with," Mr Taueki says.
Phil Taueki has also taken his fight to the Environment Court, but says that has been financially crippling.
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