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A Ngāti Maniapoto bid for a relationship deal with New Plymouth District Council has been rebuffed by the council’s iwi advisory committee.
Ngāti Maniapoto wants NPDC to join a relationship agreement the iwi already has signed with Taranaki and Whanganui-Manawatu regional councils, and Ruapēhu District Council.
But the council’s Te Huinga Taumatua committee this week unanimously rejected the idea.
Neighbouring Ngāti Tama was adamant NPDC shouldn’t join the agreement, saying Ngāti Maniapoto is wrongly claiming status over much of its territory.
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Maniapoto’s Treaty of Waitangi settlement last year recognised its area of interest extended to Waipīngao Stream just south of Parininihi/Mt Messenger.
That overlaps some ninety percent of Ngāti Tama’s rohe, which reaches north to Mōkau.
Craig Ashworth/LDR
Francis White says the proposed Maniapoto agreement severely jeopardises NPDC’s relationship with Ngati Tama.
But Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Tama chair Francis White told the committee that Treaty settlements can recognise customary interests, but can’t define who holds mana whenua – historical territorial rights.
“Let’s be clear therefore, this issue is not about who has mana whenua in our rohe. Ngāti Tama continues to have that responsibility, a settlement Act cannot change that.”
White said Ngāti Tama couldn’t support anything that recognised Maniapoto “has some sort of mana whenua beyond Mōkau.”
She said the agreement “would severely jeopardise the council’s relationship with Ngāti Tama.”
Craig Ashworth/LDR
Glenn Tootill says Maniapoto wants to protect awa within boundaries tupuna laid down by the iwi’s tupuna.
Ngāti Maniapoto trustee Glenn Tootill said the iwi’s post-settlement entity Te Nehenehenui wanted NPDC to join the multi-council agreement as the most efficient way to protect Maniapoto waterways.
“We’d rather do it altogether, sitting in the same room, rather than having one meeting with those other three councils and then… sitting down with you and having the same discussion again.”
Tootill told Te Huinga Taumatua that Te Nehenehenui currently had no ambitions beyond protecting awa it has an interest in, including Mōhakatino River, Tongapōrutu River and part of the Waitara River inland.
“We have been consistent and clear that these boundaries… were laid by our tūpuna and so we remain steadfast to that kōrero from them.”
Te Huinga Taumatua iwi representatives were clearly unhappy with the foray from the north.
Craig Ashworth/LDR
Te Huinga Taumatua iwi reps Tamzyn Pue (Ngati Maru) and Raymond Tuuta (Ngati Tama) questioned Maniapoto’s bid for official status in Taranaki.
Committee co-chair and Ngāti Maru rep Tamzyn Pue asked Tootill how Maniapoto could push NPDC for a relationship agreement knowing Ngāti Tama had adamantly opposed a previous attempt.
“Why would you therefore totally overlook or just not even care about Ngāti Tama and their stance?”
“All of us unanimously, ngā iwi o Taranaki ki te raki, the northern alliance, supported Ngāti Tama because we must: the mountain already dictates to us why we must stand united.”
“Do you Ngāti Maniapoto… consider yourselves the ninth tribe of Taranaki?”
Tootill said just a small part of New Plymouth District came within Maniapoto.
“We’re not seeking to exercise influence over the council’s entire area and as I said earlier that’s up to mana whenua to deal with.”
Taranaki iwi rep Jacqui King said she wanted to cut to the chase.
“Some of the concern you’re obviously sensing… is around the potential for this arrangement to takahi [trample] the mana of Ngāti Tama.”
“Are you aware of that and… the level of concern that this request is having on Ngāti Tama?”
Tootill said Maniapoto certainly had no intention to takahi Ngāti Tama’s mana but aspired to “exercise mana whakahaere [governance authority] over our entire area of interest.”
In rejecting the proposed relationship agreement, Te Huinga Taumatua instead adopted three Ngāti Tama recommendations that the council:
• Requires the Crown to give evidence about its recognition of Maniapoto’s claim over waterways, and to explain how that would work given Ngāti Tama’s treaty settlement over the same area;
• Prepares a detailed assessment of an agreement with Te Nehenehenui including challenges it could pose to Taranaki iwi;
• Doesn’t start talks on a relationship until Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Tama (and other north Taranaki rūnanga) reach an agreement with Te Nehenehenui over waterways.
The issue goes to the full council in a fortnight, but councillors on Te Huinga Taumatua said their colleagues were unlikely to go against the committee’s strong opposition.
If NPDC rejects the relationship agreement Te Nehenehenui has said it will re-instigate its bid for a different type of agreement – a Mana Whakahono a Rohe.
Under the Resource Management Act, the council would be forced to take part.
Councillor Dinnie Moeahu has suggested a Mana Whakahono agreement could include both Maniapoto and Ngāti Tama, along with NPDC.
Talks between Maniapoto and Ngāti Tama eventually may find a way through the deadlock.
Despite the tense meeting, speakers repeatedly emphasised intermarriage and other whakapapa bonds between the neighbouring iwi, particularly in the overlapping border area.
White and Tootill declined to comment after the meeting, but White said they had already agreed that the two sides would meet independent of council.
Ngāti Tama’s Te Huinga Taumatua representative Raymond Tuuta said it was a shame the dispute had taken place in a council forum.
“Like anything we would want to make sure that we always mana-enhance everyone, so it’s just disappointing that we are having to use this construct to form a relationship – there is a lot of tension in that.”
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