Rāhui not a tool to be used for political agenda

Wednesday, 2 February 2022

Watch a video of the Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song design, which shows how the memorial design will appear in the natural landscape of Dove-Myer Robinson Park.

Ngarimu Blair is the deputy chair of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi.

OPINION: Increasingly, across iwi and Māori leadership throughout the motu, there is a growing sense of urgency and concern for the pressures on our environment, the demand for whenua and on the resources of Aotearoa.

Deep within the kōrero I’ve had with the many leaders across Māoridom in recent months and years is a desire to do more to protect and nurture those things for which we are but kaitiaki (guardians), and which must be handed on to sustain generations to come.

The responsibility as kaitiaki, for tangata whenua, is an essential one, focused on protecting the whenua, resources, and people, guided by ancient principles and teachings. As Papatūānuku (Earth) continues to buckle under the ceaseless demands for resources as well as the crushing pressures of climate change, there is a growing desire across Maoridom and from many in our shared communities to do more to protect those things which are essential to us all.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair Ngarimu Blair.

I am pleased there has been some gradual change in an attitude that once saw Māori completely excluded from our role as kaitiaki, which once saw our beliefs and principles cast aside as irrelevant and unwanted. In recent years there has been a greater appreciation for and acceptance of our voice at the decision-making table at local and national government level.

Hauraki iwi Ngāti Hei, led by kaumātua Joe Davis, placed a rāhui on Ōpito Bay recently to give scallop beds a chance to replenish, a move that was well-supported by the community.

* Work begins on Erebus memorial following protesters' eviction from Parnell site

* Erebus memorial: Start of construction rebuffed at contentious Auckland site

Erebus National Memorial protesters who tried to impose a rāhui at Dove-Meyer Robinson Park in Parnell had no authority to do so.

Rāhui is one area of tikanga which has grown in appreciation and relevance in recent years.

A rāhui is a form of tapu restricting access to, or use of, an area or resource by tangata whenua. With the passing of the 1996 Fisheries Act, a rāhui is able to be imposed by the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries. A rāhui is the tikanga that prohibits access to an area of water or land.

There is much thought and careful consideration that goes into applying a rāhui, guided by kaumātua and those with expert knowledge of Te Ao Maori and the affected area. Today the application of a rāhui by tangata whenua, who have a deep and intimate knowledge of their lands and waterways, will generally be accepted and appreciated by the wider community as an action designed to benefit and protect everyone.

There is strict protocol and process to rāhui which have been nurtured over many generations. For example, when there has been a death in a waterway, a rāhui may be applied, or if there is pressure on kai moana in an area, or to allow the forest to replenish itself. They are not tools to be used for political agenda.

It is not for one iwi or hapū to impose rāhui in the whenua or moana of others. It can only be established by those who continuously live at a particular place as a rāhui requires the generational connections and knowledge of a place to understand what is appropriate and under the conditions at hand.

In recent months as an example, a small few have imposed their own rāhui in our Ngāti Whātua ki Tāmaki rohe to support their protest action to try to stop the Erebus Memorial at our former pā called Taurarua in Parnell. They have tried to use the concept to add credibility to their opposition to this memorial.

This is not the way of rāhui, it is not its purpose. There are processes and actions that protesters can take, my Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei whānau know these very well. Applying rāhui is exceptional to this agenda and can be applied only by those recognised as experts of the custom and of the history of the whenua in this case, or waterbody.

Protest is a healthy activity for any society, which has its own protocols and drivers, and is a way to demonstrate opposition. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei understand intimately the importance and need to protest when all other options seem lost. But to usurp the ancient and sacred ways of our tūpuna (ancestors) to impose rāhui on little supported protests is not tika or correct.

The success of rāhui, like most things which have immense value and benefit, comes from being applied with careful thought and knowledge, from consistency and being guided by protocols of the leaders of the resident hapū. If it is, then it is much more likely to be appreciated by all who come into an area and followed, allowing its purpose to be achieved.