Nick Smith re-writes Ngati Paoa history
Nick Smith re-writes Ngati Paoa history
In an interview
on Te Karere yesterday, Building and Construction Minister
Nick Smith dismissed Labours alternative plan for Treaty
settlement with Ngati Paoa saying “…Ngati Paoa is
wanting to do housing on their ancestral land on the Point
England site, remember Point England was one of the largest
Maori settlement sites anywhere in New Zealand.”
Where
does Minister Smith get his historical information from? The
Minister appears to be confusing Point England/Te Whanake
with Mokoia Pa and Mauinaina kainga at Panmure. In 1780,
Ngati Paoa was gifted land (tuku whenua) by Ngati Whatua,
called Tauoma, which included Point England and which the
Native Land Court in 1866 stated “…was not the ancestral
territory of Ngati Paoa”.
Even Ngati Paoa Iwi Trust
doesn’t claim to have had a settlement at Point England.
The Trusts online history of the iwi does not mention Point
England/Te Whanake and in its 2016 Financial Report confirms
“Mokoia and Mauinaina were the great bastions of Ngāti
Paoa”.
It is disturbing that the Minister responsible
for selling off part of Point England Reserve needs to
invent historical occupation in an attempt to make it more
palatable to the public. Point England Reserve is convenient
for Treaty settlement with Ngati Paoa because of its
underlying Crown title and because ancestral land in
Panmure/Mt Wellington, which being in private ownership, is
not available.
The use of Tamaki Regeneration Company
(TRC) land (which includes part of Panmure) as suggested by
Labour and Save Our Reserves for commercial redress to Ngati
Paoa, is ironically closer to Ngati Paoa historic land than
Point England Reserve.
TRC has residentially zoned land,
slated for re-development, which is owned by the Crown at
arm’s length. If there is the political will, this land
could be used as commercial treaty settlement for Ngati Paoa
to build housing instead of the much loved Point England
Reserve.
Ends