Media Release October 8, 2009

Omission of Ngati Whatua from Queens Wharf Project is ‘Design Apartheid’

Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua Chair, Naida Glavish says it is unbelievable that Ngati Whatua as mana whenua in Auckland has been excluded from the waterfront Queens Wharf development design process.

She says the exclusion is senseless and a wasted opportunity, let along insulting to Ngati Whatua.

“It is tragic that I am forced to even make a statement such as this in the 21st century. We thought we had long moved on from the ‘design apartheid’ of the 19th and 20th centuries where our built environments created separate worlds for Maori and European.”

Naida Glavish says it is no longer a matter of trying to balance the ledger with mana whenua and include Maori in decision making for political correctness reasons. She says today it is about economic realities and the distinct contribution Maori make to putting New Zealand on the world stage.

“To omit mana whenua from the design process for Queens Wharf is to ignore a critical aspect of what makes this city unique. We run the risk of constructing an edifice that without reference to the history and the culture of this place becomes some glass box on a pier like any other old mall-like development in the world.”

Naida Glavish says the dropping of Rau Hoskins from the judging panel for the Queens Wharf project leaves it with zero involvement from either Ngati Whatua as mana whenua or any other Maori perspective renders it culturally barren.
She says it is also interesting to note several of the finalists make reference to reflecting ‘ the Polynesian fabric of Auckland’ and its Maori name, Tamaki Makaurau.

“How on earth will anyone know if the design does reflect these traditions if there is no Maori voice or representation to assist in assessing it? It really adds up to shoddy research and an embarrassing ‘plastic tiki’ approach to referencing mana whenua.”

ends

© Scoop Media