Court agrees to hear Waiheke penguin challenge

Waatea Team Court agrees to hear Waiheke penguin challenge

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The Environment Court has granted Ngāti Paoa Trust Board an urgent hearing this Thursday and Friday on its challenge to a Waiheke marine development.

The board is asking that work stop until Kennedy Point Boatharbour Limited implements a proper monitoring and protection plan is in place for the endangered kororā or little blue penguins living on the site, which was a condition of its resource consent.

Trust co-chair Danella Roebeck says Auckland Council has failed in its duty to protect the environment and the kororā, so the iwi had to step up.

"The kororā, it's whakapapa. Tangaroa, Papatūānuku, we whakapapa back to each other and it's up to us as kaitiaki to look after our tūpuna, the kororā, and all our taonga species," she says.

Danella Roebeck says the case is bolstered by a Māori Appellate Court finding that at the time the council granted the consent the trust board held the exclusive mandate to represent Ngāti Paoa on Resource Management Act matters, not the interim Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust which gave its support to the developer.

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