Mau Whenua, a group of Taranaki Whānui iwi members have held fast to the original Tangata Whenua vision for their whenua at Motu Kairangi/Miramar Peninsula for many years. Mau Whenua are encouraged by many of the concepts displayed in the recently released Motu Kairangi Design Group vision for Motu Kairangi/Miramar Peninsula.

Mau Whenua look forward to engaging with the Motu Kairangi Design Group to gain further insights into what is being proposed and how that may fit into a Tangata Whenua, Ao Maori vision for their whenua (land). Mau Whenua see this as an important step towards wider iwi and community engagement.

Mau Whenua Chair, Hirini Jenkins-Mepham commended Councillor Simon Woolf for his “thoughtful and courageous” statement urging councillors not to vote for the sale and lease of publicly owned Council land to The Wellington Company. “Simon Woolf is a voice of reason in this debate. It would be reckless for Wellington City Councillors to vote for the sale of publically owned land while legal action against the Developer and the development is in progress.”

Mau Whenua have a High Court case pending against Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) and Developer Cassels of the Wellington Company, The High Court case seeks the sale of land to the developers companies declared invalid and the return of all iwi land at Omarukaikuru/Shelly Bay to Iwi.

Jenkins-Mepham also recalled the aspirations of the leading Treaty Settlement negotiators for the Wellington region, Sir Ngatata Love and Sir Paul Reeves. Both had pledged that developments at Shelly Bay and the rest of the peninsula would be a result of collaboration and consultation with the community and would benefit Iwi as well as all other Wellingtonians.

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“The Motu Kairangi Design Group proposed Alternative Vision offers some alignment with parts of a Tangata Whenua vision for their whenua. Iwi land on the Peninsula was never intended to be used for luxury, high priced, high density, elite privately owned housing. The whenua and the harbour have huge cultural and heritage significance for Iwi members, and we look forward to ongoing kaitiakitanga of our harbour, and the appropriate development of our whenua when it is returned to Iwi ownership as part of our Treaty Settlement with the Crown”.

In January 2016 Mau Whenua placed three Pou at Omarukaikuru/Shelly Bay as a statement that Iwi owned land around the harbour was not for sale. Mau Whenua was formed by a group of members of Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika to resist the sale of Iwi land. Like the non-sellers of Manawa Pou Mau Whenua seeks to hold Iwi land, including post-settlement lands for the future benefit of Iwi members and the wider community.

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