Lake Horowhenua advocate trespasses councillors, council staff 'threatened'

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Philip Taueki has issued trespass orders to Horizons Regional councillors, banning them from Lake Horowhenua.

Efforts to clean up one of New Zealand's most polluted lakes have hit another roadblock, with Horizons Regional Council now fearing for the safety of its staff after a fiery council meeting.

The meeting resulted in a longtime advocate for cleaning up the lake hurling threats and trespassing councillors from the lake.

Philip Taueki gave an impassioned submission to Horizons Regional Council's Long Term Plan hearing on Wednesday about the state of Lake Horowhenua.

Taueki has had constant battles with Horizons, Horowhenua District Council and other groups about the lake.

* Lake Horowhenua cleanup gets green light after trust appeal fails

* In legal storm over lake, a pledge to stop pollution 'by hook or by crook'

* Crown left Horowhenua's Muaupoko iwi virtually landless, breaching Treaty of Waitangi**

There is no argument the lake is in a horrible state. Formerly teeming with fish, which sustained local iwi Muaūpoko, it is one of the most polluted in New Zealand.

The Waitangi Tribunal has ruled the Crown was complicit in polluting the lake, breaching the Treaty of Waitangi in the process.

On Wednesday, Taueki fired a salvo at the councillors, telling them he had no respect for them and the work they wanted to do at the lake.

He said he would not let them pour concrete to build a boat ramp, which the council wants to use as part of its cleanup effort.

'Back me into a corner, then you'll see what happens.'

He also told the councillors to go down and see how polluted the lake was, before serving all those present – Pat Kelly had given his apologies – an order trespassing them from the lake.

An order seen by Stuff stated it was made by Taueki as an owner of the lake. Taueki is a direct descendant of a Muaūpoko chief who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, and the lake is owned by Muaūpoko.

Later in the day, while Lake Horowhenua Domain Board chairwoman Jenny Rowan was making her submissions, Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon said efforts to clean the lake had taken 'a huge step back' due to the trespass and staff being threatened.

'Our ability to do anything at the lake has been severely threatened.

'For the chief executive to send someone down there to do work, given the threats, is a huge thing for him when thinking about health and safety.'

Rowan said she saw her role as 'taking the tension' out of things.

She said the board was responsible for ensuring the lake could be used for recreational purposes, but it had not been used to its full potential for years because it was polluted.

The most obvious sources of pollution were stormwater drains flowing into the lake, carrying pollution from horticultural land, farms and Levin township, she said.

But more data needed to be collected so the board could see how things were changing.

'Being an old farmer myself, the loss of sediment of rich horticultural land should be a concern in itself,' Rowan said.

'I'm keen to see how that has slowed down.'