Ngāti Kahungunu joins Ngāi Tahu in court action seeking rangatiratanga over freshwater

Thursday, 4 February 2021

Ngāti Kahungunu is following in the wake of Ngāi Tahu with the two iwi joining forces in proceedings against the Crown, seeking “rangatiratanga” over freshwater in their takiwā (area).

South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu began court proceedings against the Crown in November last year, seeking recognition of its ownership over freshwater in its area.

The case would seek to establish “shared authority” with the Crown over policy and practice.

**READ MORE:

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* Ngāi Tahu takes Crown to court for 'rangatiratanga' of its waterways

* Freshwater conference embraces Māori values as it looks to the future

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Ngāti Kahungunu, the country’s third largest iwi, was now working with Ngāi Tahu to have its rangatiratanga on freshwater recognised, including the Mohaka River in Hawke’s Bay.

Rangatiratanga has a wide number of meanings, covering everything from leadership to authority to autonomy.

Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana​ said it would be a consolidated claim, but with Ngāti Kahungunu's own “individual takes on it”.

He said the iwi had seen traditional waterways and water bodies in its rohe degraded over time through government inaction, along with overallocation, and lack of environmental protections, including the 2016 Havelock North gastro outbreak.

“These issues can be addressed only through direct engagement between the Crown and the iwi whose freshwater are most affected by years of neglect,” Tomoana said.

“The river, the waters and the springs don't belong to the iwi, they belong to the hapū. We called all the hapū together and invited Ngāi Tahu to come and talk about their claim and what they expressed was resonant to what we were going through.

Tomoana said the iwi’s claims had said “quite specifically” that Māori had authority over the water and that it hadn’t been relinquished.

“In order to achieve the rangatiratanga authority, it’s always been regulated by regional councillors, or other instruments that keep us away from exercising our authority and our rangatiratanga.

“We’re tired of [being in] the backfoot position – and if we can take control of nitrates and control extraction and allocation, then we’d be in a better place.

“The Covid-19 lockdown showed us we don’t need to heal Papatūānuku. Just by not doing this stuff, Papatūānuku heals itself – it’s actually the people who regulate it that need healing, and we're testing this in the High Court, based on Ngāi Tahu’s argument as well.”

Ngāti Kahungunu’s takiwā stretched from Wairarapa to Wairoa on the east coast of the North Island, and includes Wairarapa Moana (Lake Wairarapa), Lake Onoke and the Ruamahunga river.

The Wairarapa Valley was one of the areas of New Zealand with the worst water quality.

Ngāi Tūāhuriri Upoko, Dr Te Maire Tau said as Waitangi Day approached, iwi called on the Government to honour its relationship with treaty partners, “which are the iwi of New Zealand, not working groups or national bodies”.

Tomoana estimated the court proceedings would take about three months.

“We’ll be using the same expertise that Ngāi Tahu will use, and we will have a whole college of international experts around water, and also treaty experts around Tikanga and Māori law.

“This is not a claim for the water itself, or a claim for allocation – it’s a claim for regulatory powers and to be able to dispense and use those powers more fairly for the future of our planet,” Tomoana said.