Maori Review: Ngati Kahu Lost Appeal Court Case v FNDC/Carrington Farms Ltd.

Well its official. It's repertitious stuff but it happened like this:

Ngati Kahu objected to a resource consent for 12 sections on Carrington Farms Ltd property overlooking Karikari Bay. They maintained that;

1. It was close to Te Ana O Taite burial cave (that's their words. The correct name is Taitehe who was a Te Whanau Moana tupuna)

2. They had a signed agreement with Carrington Farms for consultation. While they did have this, the tangata whenua (Te Rorohuri) were sidelined in this agreement.

The Runanga appeared at the FNDC Review Panel at Kaikohe and lost.

They then went to the Environment Court at Paihia and lost there.

They then took it to the High Court and "won" in Whangarei. That Court thought the "agreement" with C Farms was relevant.

Then the other litigants contested the High Court's decision and of course won. The Appeal Court found that:

The resource consent in dispute was upheld
The Runanga was liable for the costs of the litigation.

The consequences for Ngati Kahu are humungus (pardon my spelling) especially the costs of this litigation if we are taken to the cleaners. All Ngati Kahu's assets such as their Fishing Settlement Assets, the Taipa Farm, and any cash held by the Runanga could be under threat. This also applies to the assets and money held by Marae members not to mention individuals who made those decisions on behalf of Ngati Kahu. That's the worst case scenario.

The alternative is that saner heads in Ngati Kahu get together under their Hapu banner and negotiate with FNDC/Carrington Farms Ltd to aleviate the costs to Ngati Kahu and reduce the exposure of our Marae and individuals.

We should also challenge the Runanga's mandate to negotiate our Treaty claim. Their credibility is shot to pieces. In fact resignations are in order. So, briefly then our objective is to: