Freedom campers moved on from Golden Bay river site

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Heather Simpson was among those occupying the Waitapu River camping site. Police moved the group on this week.

Police have moved on freedom campers protesting their right to stay at a popular Golden Bay river site.

A group of campers have been occupying the freedom camping site at Waitapu Bridge near Takaka for weeks despite being asked to leave and issued with infringement notices by a Tasman District Council enforcement officer.

Some of the Freedom Campaign group identify as gypsies and believe they should have a right to stay longer than the current two-night rule. From top left: Tai Eder; Ina Stiehler; Amber Swords; Heather Simpson and Jazz Le Breton.

Police confirmed a group of freedom campers were moved from the site on Tuesday.

Freedom Campaign protester Heather Simpson said when police arrived some received trespass notices and those who weren't present had their campsites 'torn down and thrown in a big messy pile'.

Simpson set up a temporary camp on the Village Green in Takaka, but said 'summer has ended early in Takaka this year' and she was leaving for Motueka.

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'If we all end up leaving the Bay, perhaps then the tourism operators and shops will realise how much money we did actually bring to the area.'

She would continue 'moving with the winds of change' but was open to returning to Golden Bay to talk more about the issue and work on solutions.

'I am not the only person fighting this campaign, I have just been a voice for a community who usually keep to ourselves and avoid conversations with those who judge us and hate us.'

Simpson is part of a larger group she calls a 'travelling community' of like-minded people who moved around the top of the South Island.

The Freedom Campaign has been protesting for the 'basic human right' to have a place to stay. Many didn't have permanent homes and some had little money for fuel and accommodation.

Simpson said she was aware that with these rights should came responsibilities to respect the land, people and creatures.

Homelessness was 'not a lifestyle choice', she said.

'I am living in the ways of my ancestors, who have travelled the world for a thousand years and everywhere been moved on, harassed, judged, enslaved and murdered in tragic numbers.

'I do not just call myself a Gypsy, I am one.'

While Simpson herself identified strongly with her Romani Gypsy heritage, she said others in the group did not.

She said she 'stands for the rights also of all travellers' who choose to live a simple life close to nature and community, and for those who did not choose to but who had homelessness 'thrust upon them'.

Simpson left her Waitapu Bridge campsite earlier this week after learning that the site was sacred to local iwi who were opposed to turning it into a designated freedom camping site.

In a submission on the Tasman District Council draft Responsible Camping Strategy, Ngāti Tama ki te Waipounamu Trust said the site was a wāhi tapu (sacred site) and sensitive cultural area for Ngāti Tama.

Golden Bay Community Board member Grant Knowles wants the freedom camping bylaw amended to remove the Waitapu site from it.

He would be putting through a motion calling for the ban at next Tuesday's board meeting, along with a letter from iwi in support.

'It's wai tapu and it was probably a mistake in the first place,' he said.

'We need somewhere else to put them [freedom campers] before we do that.'

Knowles said he wasn't aware of any other available council land that would be suitable 'unless we buy land.'