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Download AudioThe Waitematā Local Board has deferred a decision about extending the consent to build the controversial Erebus Memorial until it receives a report from the Chief Ombudsman on the consent process.
In a four hour session yesterday, it heard from Ngāti Whātūa kuia Dame Rangimarie Glavish, who led an occupation of the site in Parnell’s Dove Meyer Robinson Park to prevent work starting.
She says she wants to protect Te Hā, the ancient pōhutukawa which stands on the site of an ancient pa known as Mataharehare or Taurārua.
Culture and Heritage chief executive Laulu Mac Leauana told the board it can only make an operational decision about when construction starts, and the crown will use the powers of the state to force construction work to resume.
New Waitematā ward councillor Mike Lee encouraged the board to listen to the voice of the community and withdraw landowner consent.
Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson says he’s not sure if 16-year-olds are developed enough to vote.
The Prime Minister has promised to give parliament a chance to decide on the voting age after the Supreme Court made a declaration the way the current age of 18 was set was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act.
Mr Jackson says while many of his Labour colleagues are keen on the idea, he’s not convinced.
“I think the priority has to be about it being taught in the schools, that these young ones understand things, because if it’s not reflected in our system it doesn’t matter whether they’re 16 or 18, because what we know is our kids are not voting at 18, let alone 16,” he says.
National and Act say they will bloc vote against the bill, meaning it will not reach the 5 percent threshold needed for changes to the Electoral Act.
Meanwhile Minister Willie Jackson’s misgivings over lowering the voting age are reflected on the home front.
His daughter, 18-year-old Te Aria Jackson, says while some 16 and 17 year olds are politically aware, most aren’t.
“When I was 16 I was in school focusing on sports and my homework and everything. I didn’t have any outside experience of the world. I was definitely in no place to vote,” she says.
Te Aria Jackson say most of her information comes from social media, but it’s difficult to know what’s true or not.
Work has started on a new water pump station at Taniwha Springs-Te Waro Uri, which is the main water supply for Rotorua’s Ngongotahā and Awahou communities.
The chair of Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s Pekehaua Puna Reserve Trust, Louis Bidois, says it will allow the removal of the existing pump station, which sits on the most culturally significant part of the waterway, where the taniwha Pekehaua resided.
Ngāti Rangiwewehi formed a partnership with Rotorua Lakes Council to apply for a joint consent for ongoing water take from the spring, after the council returned land taken under the Public Works Act in 1966.
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