RANGITĀNE O WAIRAU SUBMITS ON PROPOSED EAST COAST BEACH VEHICLE BYLAW
Rangitāne o Wairau has submitted to the Marlborough District Council’s Proposed East Coast Beach Vehicle Bylaw. Rangitāne o Wairau have a long cultural association with the greater East Coast area. Our association dates back some 800 years to the earliest inhabitants in Aotearoa. The initial occupation area has been identified as Te Pokohiwi o Kupe (Wairau Bar), before migrating further South to Kāpara-te-hau (Lake Grassmere), Te Karaka (Mussel Point and Cape Campbell), Oruamoa, Waiharekeke (Flaxbourne), Waimā and beyond to Matariki at the Waiau Toa river.
The full submission can be found here.
Rangitāne o Wairau has two essential points concerning the proposed Bylaw.
The first is a concern about a serious procedural misstep in the process of developing the Bylaw and the second relates to matters of substance.
Procedural Misstep
The version of the Bylaw which was, Rangitāne o Wairau understands, adopted by Council contained statements which were legally and factually wrong about the status of Rangitāne o Wairau’s interest in the area the subject of the Bylaw relative to the status of Ngāti Kurī. Those statements included:
- Ngāti Kurī, hapū of Ngāi Tahu, are tangata whenua, while Rangitāne, Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Rārua have long standing connections with the area.
- Ngāti Kurī are the tangata whenua who have manawhenua and manamoana in the area covered by the draft East Coast Beach Vehicle Bylaw.
- Te Rūnanga Rangitāne o Wairau . . . [has] historic interests in the area.
In Rangitāne o Wairau’s view, the fact of these serious mistakes having been made affects the quality of the decision making process to date to such an extent that the process should start again. Consultation should begin, again, on the basis that Council has an obligation to correctly identify and engage with all iwi with interests in the area on a correct legal and factual basis and not on the mistaken basis that Ngāti Kurī’s interests are superior to Rangitāne o Wairau’s.
The Rangitāne o Wairau Area of Interest (defined in our Deed of Settlement and legislation) covers a territory stretching from the Waiau-toa (Clarence) River in the south to the Wairau River (Marlborough), including the Nelson Lakes, and north to Kaituna and the Marlborough Sounds and west into the Whakatu (Nelson) area. Included in this area is the coastal area subject to the proposed bylaw and beyond.
Matters of Substance
Rangitāne o Wairau consider the concept that tangata whenua be excluded from being able to visit and gather kai, as they have done for many hundreds of years, is outrageous.
Council cannot, by Bylaw, remove customary rights which are enshrined in law and which have been exercised by the Rangitāne people for centuries.
There should have been an exemption for tangata whenua. Council has recognised that the Bylaw should yield to commercial interests (such as those of Dominion Salt) and similar exemptions should be incorporated to reflect the lawful rights of tangata whenua.
Full Submission
To read our full submission, click here.
Enquiries and Questions
Please direct any enquiries in relation to this submission to Rangitāne o Wairau General Manager Corey Hebberd at manager@rangitane.org.nz.