Lake Horowhenua standoff due to poor toilets, no movement on tribunal recommendation

Thursday, 28 November 2019

There's no way into Lake Horowhenua, after Philip Taueki closed off access.

A lack of progress implementing Waitangi Tribunal recommendations and alleged mismanagement are behind an activist's move to block access to a popular Horowhenua domain.

Philip Taueki has campaigned for more than a decade to get the heavily polluted Lake Horowhenua back to its former glory as a prized taonga, teaming with kaimoana and safe to be in.

The lake is one of the worst waterways in the wider Manawatū – a freshwater scientist has warned the water in the lake was potentially fatal to children and dogs at certain times of year.

Taueki, who lives in a defunct nursery building near the lake, has had problems with authorities in the past about management of the lake and nearby domain, which is overseen by the Lake Horowhenua Domain Board.

Taueki has locked a gate leading to Lake Horowhenua after complaints about toilet management at a nearby domain were not adequately dealt with.

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The latest problems have led him to lock the gates to the domain from Wednesday, to which he attached images of the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, with the word 'closed' on them.

Taueki said he had asked the board to give proof septic tanks attached to public toilets at the Sea Cadets building and dog club were being emptied.

Those records were not provided and a local contractor said they had not pumped them recently.

'The public loos are basically going straight into the lake,' Taueki said. 'There is no resource management plan.'

He was also frustrated at the lack of urgency in implementing recommendations made by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2017.

The tribunal, which looked at how Horowhenua iwi Muaūpoko was the victim of Te Tiriti o Waitangi breaches, said a new governance board should be created to care for the lake and surrounds.

But that has not yet been done, angering Taueki, who is a direct descendent of the Muaūpoko chief who signed the treaty on behalf of the iwi.

'We have had enough.'

Police are aware of the situation, but Taueki hoped they would not get involved.

More than 30 charges laid against him in relation to incidents at the lake have either been dismissed before a trial, trial decisions have gone in his favour, or convictions have been quashed on appeal.

A Horowhenua District Council spokeswoman pointed Stuff in the direction of the Department of Conservation, which helps with the running of the domain board.

The department's lower North Island operations director Reg Kemper, who also chairs the board, said all the department did was run the board meetings.

The land at the domain was a mix of Crown and Māori-owned, so was not managed by the department.

The board had not authorised Taueki to lock the access gate, which he had also done in the past, Kemper said.

The district council, which takes care of maintenance and security for the board, had been asked to remove the locks.

The board is due to meet on Monday in the council's chambers, with an item about toilets on the agenda.