Kennedy Point marina: Waiheke community vows ‘it ain’t over yet’
Sunday, 20 June 2021
Opponents of the marina at Kennedy Point have vowed to continue their fight, even as construction at Pūtiki Bay gathers pace.
Hundreds packed the Ostend War Memorial Hall on Sunday, with Whaea Kathryn Ngapo (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Pāoa) opening with a statement that became the theme of the afternoon: “It ain’t over yet”.
The meeting closed a week when tensions flared at the beach occupation. On Thursday, police descended on the beach and three protesters were arrested.
While police and developer said police were on-site to ensure everyone’s safety, those at the meeting spoke of people sustaining injuries during altercations with officers and security.
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* Kennedy Point campaigners lose Supreme Court battle to stop Waiheke marina
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Emily Māia Weiss (Ngāti Pāoa) is one of the group of occupiers that has been at the bay for more than 100 days.
The crowd responded with applause, cheers and foot-stomping when she told them “I know we’ll beat this marina, I’ve got no doubt about it”.
“I firmly believe it’s absolutely not too late – ever – for Auckland Council to review a resource consent that was granted four years ago.”
Ngā uri o Ngāti Pāoa (descendents of Ngāti Pāoa) are the force behind the occupation and the 15,000-strong petition for Council and government to instigate a review of the consent.
Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick told the crowd support from uri and the community was essential if change was going to happen.
“That is how we will win,” she said.
Speaking to Stuff on Friday, Swarbrick said she doesn’t “really buy it” when ministers say they’re unable to intervene.
“It often is that they do have some scope for discretion should there be the political willpower in place.”
This was also an opportunity for the kind of constructive, creative and collaborative solutions seen at Ihumātao, she said.
In the consenting process, only one representative entity of Ngāti Pāoa, the Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust, was consulted by the developer.
The Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board was not consulted, which the Māori Appellate Court and the Supreme Court found was a failure on the part of Auckland Council, which should have notified the board.
Swarbrick said that was “indicative of wholesale failing on the part of local government and of government with regard to meaningful engagement with tāngata whenua”.
“It’s largely become a checkbox exercise; how do we go down the path of least resistance and reduce the number of iwi and hapu who are in that room?”
“What is legal is not necessarily what’s right,” she told Sunday’s crowd.
A number of speakers who whakapapa to Ngāti Pāoa spoke about how they had not had their voices heard.
“We can correct the wrongs of the past by taking action,” Drina Paratene (Ngāti Whātua ki te Kaipara, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Awa) said.
The marina construction represented “colonisation of our moana”, she said.
While Save Kennedy Point’s (SKP) four-year legal fight has now been exhausted, after they settled out of court with the developer, campaigners are determined that doesn’t signal the end of the fight.
“We need to unite, with the kaupapa being the kororā,” Dave Roebeck, principal officer of the Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board, said.
The kororā, little blue penguins, have been a flashpoint since the efforts of occupiers and environmentalists brought a halt to work on the marina while a new penguin protection plan was developed.
Kororā expert Professor John Cockrem from Massey University has called for construction to be at least partially halted until 2022.
He released a preliminary assessment of the proposed new penguin management plan on Friday, identifying what he calls “significant omissions”.
He has worked with construction projects, including at Napier Port, on protecting penguins.
The number of kororā at Kennedy Point was likely “considerably higher” than current estimates, he wrote, calling it a “regionally significant” population.
Adverse effects on penguins once the marina is built are not accounted for, and the plan does not include adequate measures to deal with the effects on penguins of construction below water, the report said.
He recommended construction that could impact kororā be paused until their breeding and moulting season is over. That would mean no construction above the low tide line along the full length of the breakwater to a distance of five metres into the sea.
The developer said it was “surprised and disappointed” to receive the report, saying it was “based on a number of incorrect assumptions”.
Kennedy Point Marina director Kitt Littlejohn said it was “misleading” to say there were significant omissions. Cockrem's concerns about adverse effects on the kororā are addressed in “detailed consent conditions”, he said.
Speakers also voiced concerns that the plan did not adequately provide for the kororā, who are regarded as a taonga species.
“These birds are not just birds to be picked up and moved for profit, they are part of the community too,” said Bianca Ranson (Ngāpuhi) from Mauri o te Moana.
A group of kaitiaki has been observing the kororā every morning and will shortly be collating their findings.
The developer was invited to the meeting but did not attend.
In a Facebook post, Kennedy Point Marina said it was concerned the meeting was “yet another forum for amplifying negative views about the marina”, rather than an opportunity for balanced debate.
“We take the safety of our team very seriously, and given the recent conduct of protestors at the construction site, we are concerned that tensions may be difficult to keep under control if we attend.”