November 25, 2015
Land grab bid stymies marae plans
Plans for a marae at Te Atatu are on hold again as descendants of former residents try to get their case heard in the Supreme Court.
The marae is to be sited in a small reserve within a larger block that was bought under the Public Works Act for a port.
The Court of Appeal last month ruled that while the Auckland City Council should have offered the land back in the 1980s when it took over the land from the old harbour board, the descendants waited too long to bring their claim.
They also noted the case was about the present value of the land, and the descendants don’t have any particular attachment to it.
Dave Tanenui from the marae building committee says Maori in the community have been trying to get a marae on the site for 50 years.
"Our people deserve to have something like this in Te Atatu rohe. We’ve had a lot of our kaumatua and kuia pass away during the time they’ve battled for this so here we go again. I just hope it doesn’t take another whole year because we’re ready to go and we were getting ready to sign papers and all that stuff but now that’s been halted," he says.
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