March 21, 2024
Morgan warns mining on DOC land settlement breach
Te Arataura executive chair Tukoroirangi Morgan is warning any mining on conservation land in the Waikato Tainui rohe will trigger a clause in the Tainui settlement requiring the land to be turned over.
Resources Minister Shane Jones has promoted a more permissive approach to mining, including on the conservation estate.
Mr Morgan says as part of the Tainui settlement, land under the Department of Conservation was handed over to the iwi for a day and then returned to the crown for safekeeping.
“It was a commitment never to tamper, desecrate, or denigrate in any way, shape or form those DOC lands and should the original purpose change, those lands would come back at nil value because they were cultural redress. So if the crown suddenly has a change of mind for those DOC estates in our rohe, it is a breach of our settlement and we will take them to the high court,” he says.