February 23, 2021
Kaipara clamour over clean up plan
An initiative to clean up the Kaipara Harbour has struck turbulent waters with a group with connections to marae in one of its upper catchments accusing the Kaipara Moana Remediation Joint Committee of locking it out.
The committee includes Te Uri o Hau, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara and local, regional and central government representatives.
The group attended yesterday’s committee meeting at the Northland Regional Council to demand a seat on the committee.
Member Nicki Wakefield says much of the upper catchment is not in the rohe of Ngāti Whātua.
"So we're talking about Ngāti Hine, Te Orewai, all the hapū of the Mangakāhia, Ngāti Hau, Te Uriroroi, these are hapū with many uri who may want to see what is happening in their areas, because we have been doing work with landowners, councils, millions of plants in the ground, so it's concerning to see perhaps all the work they have done coming under this group which we have been excluded from," she says.
Kaipara Moana Remediation Joint Committee chair Tame Te Rangi says the committee has an operational role to reduce sediment flowing into the harbour, and there is no need for the hapū and other stakeholders it works with to have a seat at the governance table.
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