October 29, 2020
Disputed Opua headland should be in landbank
The Ngāti Hine Rūnanga has thrown its weight behind a Northland land occupation.
The occupation by Ngāti Roroa of a headland overlooking Ōpua has been criticised by Ngāti Manu elder Arapeta Hamilton, who says any dispute should be with the crown rather than the private developer.
But Ngāti Hine chair Waihoroi Shortland says the Far North District Council was wrong to sell the former Puketītī pā site.
It should have returned the land to the crown to put in a treaty settlement landbank.
"People will say 'if we can't go through with the sale now, who's going to give us the money that would have accrued to us?' The answer to that is, it didn't cost the local council a dime, it was passed from the crown, yet here they are on a prize piece of land overlooking the sea," he says.
Waihoroi Shortland says the council should give the developer back their money before the occupation escalates.
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