June 22, 2020
Competing iwi voice too late to stop Waiheke marina
The High Court has knocked back an attempt by a Waiheke conservation group to use a split in the local iwi to advance its opposition to a marina development.
Justice Ian Gault has ruled SKP Incorporated or Save Kennedy Point can’t get the Environment Court to rehear its appeal against the consent Auckland Council granted to Kennedy Point Boat harbour, which intends to build and operate a 186-berth marina on the island, near the existing car ferry wharf.
SKP argued the Environment Court had not heard from the Ngāti Paoa Trust Board, which opposes the marina on cultural grounds, and instead relied on evidence from Morehu Wilson of the Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust.
The Iwi Trust was created in 2013 to be the tribe’s post-settlement governance entity, but it lost the confidence of a group within the iwi which in 2017 revived the trust board and sought to reassert its mandate to be consulted on resource management issues.
While the Trust Board told the Environment Court it had new cultural evidence to present if a rehearing was granted, Justice Gault said the court needed to hear that evidence before granting a rehearing.
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