November 24, 2021
Justice talk needed in Shelly Bay standoff
A candidate for the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust hopes his experience in restorative justice can help resolve the stand-off at Shelly Bay.
Some trust beneficiaries and former trustees are part of the Mau Whenua occupation of the former defence base, which was bought with settlement funds and then on-sold to developer Ian Cassels after the trust found it could not afford the costs of holding and developing the harbourside site.
The trust and Wellington Council have told Mau Whenua to leave, but the occupiers are standing firm.
Mike Hinton, the general manager of Restorative Justice Aotearoa, says restorative justice offers a framework for the hard conversations needed to find the middle ground.
“Forget the council, forget the developer, forget all the interested parties, the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust needs to engage with their members, and then whatever comes out of that is how we move forward,” he says.