TUKITUKI CATCHMENT PROPOSAL PLAN CHANGE, NOTICE OF REQUIREMENT AND RESOURCE CONSENTS IN THE MATTER of the Resource Management Act 1991 AND IN THE MATTER of a Board of Inquiry appointed under s149J of the Resource Management Act 1991 to consider a plan change request and applications for a notice of requirement and resource consents made by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company Ltd in relation to the Tukituki Catchment Proposal. BETWEEN NGĀTI KAHUNGUNU IWI INCORPORATED AND the HAWKE’S BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL AND the HAWKE’S BAY REGIONAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LTD STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF MARGARET AKATA MCGUIRE ON BEHALF OF OPERATION PATIKI AND KOHUPATIKI MARAE 8 OCTOBER 2013 Solicitors PO Box 1654 Telephone: (04) 495 9999 Facsimile: (04) 495 9990 Counsel: J P Ferguson / K L Allan WELLINGTON KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 SCOPE OF EVIDENCE .......................................................................................... 2 KOHUPATIKI MARAE AND THE TUKITUKI RIVER ............................................... 3 CONTEMPORARY USE......................................................................................... 4 EFFECTS OF THE PROPOSAL ............................................................................. 6 KOHUPATIKI HAVE MANA WHENUA TO THE TUKITUKI ................................... 7 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 8 KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB INTRODUCTION 1. My full name is Margaret Akata McGuire. My primary Tribe is Ngāti Kahungunu and my Hapu is Ngāti Hori although I have affiliations to Ngāti Hawea, Ngāti Kautere, Ngāti Hinemoa and Ngāti Toaharapaki.1 I reside in Whakatu and I have lived here for 67 years, since my birth in 1947. 2. I come from the Principal Chief Taha-tu-o-te-rangi the warrior ancestor who begat Ngāti Hori of Tanenuiarangi Pa on the banks of the Ngaruroro Mokotuararo-ki-rangātira, Mangateretere West block, Whakatu, the current site where the old Tucker’s Woolscourers building stands today. We are ahi ka and have maintained unextinguished fires over fourteen generations, since the 1600s. 3. I hold the positions of Chairperson of Kohupatiki marae and Trustee, Chairperson of the Chadwick Family Trust (the Trust) and have acted as a Trustee for twenty-five years. During this period I led the Trust’s successful fight as far as the Privy Council in the case of McGuire v Hastings District Council on the Northern Arterial Route (NAR).2 I am also founding Chairperson of Operation Patiki. 4. I am the mandated representative for Kohupatiki marae on the Treaty of Waitangi Claimant Group, He Toa Takitini. I am a member of the Executive and have held the position of Treasurer since its inception in 2005. 5. I hold a Certificate in Social Work. I also hold a National Certificate in Seafood Maori (Customary Fishing Management). 6. I worked for New Zealand Post for twenty-two years and held the position of Branch Manager during its devolution over a six year period. Currently, I work for the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board as Co-ordinator for Flaxmere Community Health and have worked for the District Health Board, in one capacity or another, for the last nineteen years. In 2003 the Kaitakawaenga position was created for me to help address inequalities for the Child Health Team working with Public Health Nurses. 1 For your reference, I have attached my whakapapa to Ngāti Hori at Appendix A. 2 McGuire v Hastings District Council [2002] 2 NZLR 577 (PC). KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB 1 7. Kohupatiki marae is opposed the RWSS in its current form and are concerned that the environmental effects on the Tukituki river, the Coastal environment and the aqua and wildlife has not been adequately addressed by HBRC. In particular, we are concerned that there have been no mitigation proposals to marae in the lower Tukituki river to offset any effects to our cultural way of life, and to address the environmental concerns that ngā marae o Ngāti Kahungunu, and the Mana Whenua have in regards to the RWSS. 8. I am the Founding Chairperson of Operation Patiki. Operation Patiki was established by Kohupatiki marae to survey the Patiki (black flounder) in the Ngaruroro Tawhito (known commonly referred to as the Cilve River). We conducted our research in conjunction with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC), and supported by Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII), Ngā Kaitiaki o te Awa a Ngaruroro, Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, Ministry of Primary Industries, Fish & Game Hawke’s Bay, the Department of Conservation, Ngā Whenua Rāhui, and Guardians of Hawke Bay Fisheries. 9. I am authorised to make this statement of behalf of Kohupatiki marae for the purposes of supporting the submission of Operation Patiki, Matahiwi marae, Waimarama marae, Ruahapia marae, Waipatu marae and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. SCOPE OF EVIDENCE 10. My evidence will cover: (a) the significance of the Tukituki river to Kohupatiki marae, Whanau and Hapu; (b) consultation with Kohupatiki marae, Whanau and Hapu on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS) and the Tukituki Catchment Proposal (the Application); KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB 2 (c) effects of the Application on Kohupatiki marae, Whānau and Hapū; and (d) Operation Patiki, and the effects of Plan change 6 on the Ngaruroro river. KOHUPATIKI MARAE AND THE TUKITUKI RIVER 11. I and my entire family were born and raised in Whakatu and Kohupatiki. Although our whanau kainga was on one side of the river we frequently resided at Kohupatiki marae, for periods from one week to a month to service the marae needs. During the school terms we would walk from the marae across the river using the Railway Bridge to catch the school bus to Mangateretere. The same routine was observed to get to work in all weathers. Our father, Banjo Paipa, worked at the Whakatu Freezing Works. 12. Kohupatiki is located by both the Ngaruroro river and the Tukituki River. I was raised on both sides of the two rivers. 13. My father was a hunter and gatherer and one of our primary food sources was the Tukituki river. My father would go in the early evening to set the hinaki for eels and then early morning, around 4am, he would go spearing flounder with the tilly lamp. He would return home around 7am and serve flounder for breakfast. A haul of 160 was not uncommon. I remember growing up on flounder from the Tukituki that were so large my mother would have to cut them in half to fit into the pan. Later on in the day he would require at least six men (or a shearing gang) to pull the hinaki. 14. My dad planned his gathering of kai awa if conditions were favourable – sufficient moonlight, clear water, sufficient river flowing so that the fish maintained their position against the current - not moving, perfect for catching. My dad understood the river’s characteristics over numerous periods of observation, indicating the optimal locations for successful harvest. 15. My father maintained traditional manaakitanga to the elderly and infirm by sharing his catch widely. However he was grateful for the attention and KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB 3 professional care shown to members of his family when they required a house call by the local Clive General Practitioners, Dr Jack Boston and Dr Don Ingram. Dad would offer up smoked tuna, smoked kahawai, fresh mullet or whitebait to name a few and when in season, mushrooms. The local Clive Garage owner Mr Beckett and his wife Dolly would service our truck in exchange for a Griffins tin full of whitebait when it was in season also. 16. My father learnt everything he knew about the Tukituki river, and the river systems in the Heretaunga plains from my grandfather Te Hore Ngarangi Chadwick. My grandfather and his brothers were renowned for providing bountiful catches of kai awa and kai moana for Kohupatiki marae especially during the annual General Synod for the Waiapu Diocese where the marae hosted the Maori clergy for the week. 17. The importance of these annual gatherings brought together Maori clergy both men and women leaders of their parishes, rohe and communities from Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa, Whakatohea, Tuhoe, Tuwharetoa, Turanga, Wairoa and Tamatea hosted by the first Maori Pihopa, Bishop Frederick Augustus Bennett. Their focus being a unified people under God, Queen and Country. 18. The hau kainga ensured their reputation as hosts was second to none with flounder, mullet and kahawai from both the Ngaruroro and Tukituki, superior eels from the Tukituki, an abundance of smelt from the Tukituki and mussels from Te Awanga adorning the tables. Come the poroporoaki the elders and speakers of the manuhiri would always rise to thank the tangata whenua for the bounty shared. CONTEMPORARY USE 19. My husband Tom McGuire and my Uncle Charlie Hart, kaitiaki of the awa Kahui, had been fishing together for all the species mentioned above over the 1960s to the 1990s, over forty years. In the sixties and seventies they used to go down and get breakfast 6am and spear kahawai and mullet off the whitebait stands – and plenty of it. They shared their fish with others. KLA-100293-2-69-V1:ARB 4 20. Tom helped Uncle Charlie dry the mullet, kahawai and smelt on the rocks by the river. All this happened in a day. Old bedsprings obtained from the Black Bridge dump were placed on the rocks and the fish hung over them. 21. The fishing whānau were Hiko Whanau, Whatarau Brothers, Materoa and Ted Toa, Charlie Waufang, Georgie Moon, Darkie Unahi, Rosie, Aunty Bella married to Jim, Storkie & Rosie Hesketh, Broughton Ormsby, Jim and Aunty Winnie Taylor, Aunty Rita & Dan Walker, Dray Kingi, and pakeha family the Boyce brothers, and a man who used to stay down by the mouth he was Hughie Johnston and Ma King, the fisherman we used to refer to as ‘Chinaman’.