April 03, 2024
Tōwai occupation ups pressure for Ngāpuhi settlement
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith is about to get a lesson in the dangers of failing to show progress on the settlement of Tai Tokerau claims.
Whānau from Ngāti Hau are occupying a former school at Tōwai.
The school closed in 2004 because of a falling roll, but the crown refused requests by the hapu and others to landbank the 2 hectare property because of the significant cost that would incur.
Instead it was bought by Housing New Zealand and then on-sold when development plans fell through.
Ngāti Hau uri and Green MP Huhana Lyndon says the crown needs to buy the property for fair market value and hand it over to the hapu.
“Ngāti Hau Akerama whanau, the haukainga of Tōwai, are in there occupying right now. They’re there and they want to hold that space because the crown call is the Crown needs to do right. They were asked over a decade ago to protect that land for hapū purposes and so the call is the crown needs to step up and do right by the vendor and do right by the hapū and bring it back into hapū hands,” Ms Lyndon says.