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October 19, 2022
Mana whenua fight to defend Eke Panuku gains
Adam Gifford
Posted On October 19, 2022
Download AudioOne of Auckland’s largest iwi builders says the city’s new mayor has got the wrong target in his attack on Auckland Council’s property management subsidiary.
Wayne Brown is demanding the board of Eke Panuku resign over what he claims is poor performance.
But James Brown from Ngai Tai ki Tamaki, which has several major developments on the go including several hundred dwellings near Middlemore, says while he still has problems with the management, the board that has been in place since 2020 is a big improvement on what came before.
A big issue for iwi using their treaty settlement rights of first refusal is getting access to surplus council land.
“Up until recently no properties, none, had been disposed to iwi or Maori in Auckland in 10 years. That’s my real issue with Eke Panuku, this process only they know, that has no legal basis, that in 10 years they were successful in evading and avoiding mana whenua,” Mr Brown says.
He says the current board is far more responsive.
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