Waiheke marina: One year of construction, occupation and protection

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

It’s a year since Kennedy Point marina construction started and the Protect Pūtiki group was formed. (First published March 9, 2022)

It’s been a year since work started on the Kennedy Point Marina, a year since Protect Pūtiki formed and a year since occupiers set up camp on the beach.

Fixed to the boardwalk, signs above Pūtiki Bay proclaim ‘No marina!’.

The occupiers are weary from living in the elements, but their sentiment is as strong as ever - even as behind them, the foundations of the marina rise from the waves.

It’s been a year since the first barge arrived in Pūtiki Bay, marking the start of construction on the marina.

The Pūtiki Occupiers have camped on the beach for 365 days, their marae a gazebo secured above the high-tide line and their home a small collection of tents and vans among the trees.

* Kennedy Point marina: Waiheke community vows ‘it ain’t over yet’

* Court to camp-out: Four-year fight to stop Waiheke marina culminates in occupation

The Pūtiki Occupiers have held a small presence on the beach for 365 days.

“It’s been an unusual occupation in a lot of ways,” spokeswoman Karla Allies (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Pukenga ki Manaia) said.

Two occupiers held the fort during lockdown and it’s been a slow regrouping since alert levels dropped, with maintaining strict Covid rules restricting numbers at camp.

At the bay, they are holding a place for Ngāti Pāoa to connect with the island and keep an eagle eye on the developers, Allies said.

“We just remain as mana whenua practising kaitiakitanga (guardianship)”, Allies said.

“We have maintained the occupation the whole year because we have always held onto rongoa, which is peace.”

When they pitched tents in March 2021, they didn’t expect to be here a year later - but Allies said for as long as there is marina equipment in the bay, they will remain.

Signs notifying the public of the injunction are attached to the fence around the breakwater.

“We still don’t think it’ll be built,” she said.

That optimism is shared by Protect Pūtiki, a separate group of protectors bringing together environmentalists, Māori and locals.

But it’s been hard to cling onto. Last March, the bay felt safe, Protect Pūtiki spokesperson Emily Māia Weiss (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Whaawhaakia) said.

Since then, there’s been violent tussles, a police operation which saw 80 officers deployed to arrest four protectors, trespass notices, criminal court cases and an injunction banning 32 locals from the construction zone.

The marina site has never been popular with Waiheke locals, who fear it will adversely affect the bay’s population of kororā and matuku moana (little blue penguins and reef herons).

If the bay’s quieter than it was six months ago, all those things play a part, Māia Weiss said.

Some in the community are scared that if they come down to show their support, their names will be added to the list lashed to the wire fence with cable ties.

Protect Pūtiki is maintaining a presence at the bay with daily observation shifts, where kaitiaki (guardians) monitor the wildlife and construction activity.

For Nââwié Tutugoro, the observations are a way to cultivate a relationship with the bay, by seeing, smelling and experiencing both the subtle and more obvious changes.

“That's part of me feeling hopeful,” she said.

Kathryn Ngapo wants to make sure the cultural significance of Pūtiki isn’t overlooked.

For people watching from afar, the observations are “the core of what makes us feel like there is still a chance,” Māia Weiss said.

“It shows that we're not defeated, that we're still fighting,” Māia Week, (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tūhoe) agreed.

Week is one of the regular observers, walking the length of the breakwater and watching for signs of kororā, little blue penguins, and other seabirds. The breakwater also offers a full view of the bay for observers to film and photograph construction work.

Growing up Māori on Waiheke, it was hard to find cultural connection in a predominantly Pākeha community, Week said.

Over the past year, there’s been a growing interest in the cultural history of the island alongside a deeper understanding of environmental issues among the community.

Kathryn Ngapo (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Awa, Marutūahu) wants to make sure the cultural significance of Pūtiki isn’t overlooked. The bay is ringed with pā sites, which offer a “really good representation of early Māori life”, Ngapo said.

“It’s not okay to deny that that cultural story exists. It does exist, it’s quite unique in Auckland. It’s important in Hauraki because this was such an important place for Hauraki tribes.

“We shouldn’t be building a marina here and mana whenua should be listened to about that.”

The issue of mana whenua being listened to is currently before the High Court in Auckland.

Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board filed for a judicial review of its treatment by Auckland Council, after the Trust Board was excluded from the Council’s mana whenua database and was not consulted on the plans for the marina. A decision is expected in the coming weeks after a hearing in February.

Māia Week said mana whenua have been undermined throughout the resource consent process.

Principal Officer of Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board, Dave Roebeck, said consent never would have been granted if the law was based on tikanga processes.

“Until the Māori processes are adhered to and respected under Te Tiriti you’re going to have these arguments,” he said.

Ngāti Pāoa placed a rāhui over Waiheke’s waters in January 2021, before construction started, but he said the developers were “flouting that completely”.

Observers are regularly at the bay observing construction work, which has been delayed by six months.

“We are really concerned that what we have an ability to put in place is not respected.”

Director of Kennedy Point Marina Kitt Littlejohn said the company does not consider that the marina works break the rāhui.

“Ecological surveys have indicated that the species of shellfish covered by the rāhui are not present within the marina footprint and will therefore not be impacted during construction.”

Once built, the marina will not impact the seabed because dredging is not required, and no fishing will be allowed in the marina, he said.

Week said she wanted to see “accountability” from Auckland Council.

“They have continuously undermined mana whenua, undermined tāngata whenua, and prioritised the wants of wealthy developers. And for me to watch that happen while they use our kupu and our kōwhaiwhai patterns and our culture […] to name their offices or to decorate their building […] is wrong, it's disgusting, it is not Te Tiriti partnership.”

Auckland Council’s general manager of resource consents, Ian Smallburn, said the resource consent was granted by Auckland Council and upheld in the Environment Court.

Under the consent, the developers must prepare a Mana Whenua Engagement Plan (MWEP) in collaboration with Ngāti Pāoa iwi, he said.

“The council’s mana whenua register has included both Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board and Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust since December 2018, and current practice is to advise consent applicants to engage with both parties in relation to consent applications.

“We value our relationship with mana whenua and we always seek to deliver on our commitments to Māori,” he said.

Littlejohn said the company had faced a number of challenges in the first year of construction, “most notably unexpected protest activity and disruption”. However, the greatest impact was from pandemic delays, he said.

The marina is expected to be finished in May 2023, he said, six months behind schedule.

“Considerable progress” has been made with offsite work, he said.

In the first half of 2022, the wharf will be finished and marina attenuators installed, and in the second half of the year, the floating internal marina structures will start to be installed.

The judicial review has offered a glimmer of hope to protectors of all stripes.

But even if the court action doesn’t go the way the protectors hope, they are determined not to give up.

“At any point it can be stopped,” Week said.

“It’s not over until all those boats are lined up in their berths and the marina is physically present there.”