A port project that could deliver nearly NZ$100m to the New Zealand economy each year has been stopped in its tracks by… bad words.
“Ludicrous,” port boss Leonard Sampson fumed in a statement to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, arguing that benefits to the national economy could be “unnecessarily delayed yet again”.
A superior court in New Zealand has ruled that the Environmental Protection Authority should not have accepted the Port of Tauranga’s fast track application for the development project known as the “Stella Passage Development” on the grounds that the project was not as described in the relevant legislation.
Clear in its description
The Port asserted that it was clear in its description of the project and that the various elements of the project were either included in the project description or that appropriate official consents had always included the appropriate parts of the project.
However, the Port said, although the judge agreed that parts of the project may have been left out by mistake, there is no discretion. Accordingly, the Environmental Protection Authority should not have accepted the application based on the current wording of the legislation.
“We are turning away shipping lines that want to call at Tauranga. In the last month, the Port has had to turn away a proposed new service to the Americas that would have provided New Zealand importers and exporters with an estimated $65 million to $90 million per annum in international freight savings. The delays are preventing a much-needed boost to the New Zealand economy,” Mr Sampson said.
Wharves, reclamation, dredging
The Stella Passage Development project involves a 385 metre wharf extension and a 1.8 hectare (i.e. 18,000 square metre) reclamation at Sulphur Point, southern wharf extensions to the Mount Maunganui wharves of 315m, and a 1.55ha reclamation, mooring and breasting dolphins north and south of the tanker berth, minor structures and 0.18ha reclamation associated with Butters Landings, and an associated extension to the dredged shipping channel.
According to official documents lodged by the port, the Stella Passage project will enable the Port of Tauranga to “accommodate growth in cargo and vessel sizes while also catering for projected export and import volume in the future. The project’s purpose is to maximise the efficient use of the existing infrastructure and footprint of Port of Tauranga, New Zealand’s busiest port, handling 42% of all of New Zealand’s containers and 50% of New Zealand’s exports by value and [which] is an essential part of the Bay of Plenty’s and New Zealand’s economies”.
The port also noted in official documents that the elements of the Ngāi Te Rangi local Maori tribe (the Maori are the indigenous peoples of New Zealand) who settled and lived in what is now described as the area of Tauranga Harbour, in the Bay of Plenty. The Port noted that the local Maori would concerned about the development owing to perceived degradation of “mauri” (the life force or natural vitality of a place, water, or living thing) of the harbour, and the effects of local marine life, particularly those that are regarded as seafood.
And, this, of course, is the issue: not everyone agrees that the project is beneficial.
Tribal histories, value, culture, respect
The Ngāti Kuku are sub-group of the Ngāi Te Rangi regional tribe. The people of the Ngāti Kuku asserted that they are significantly impacted by such matters as air quality, industrial activities, the impact on cultural and contemporary practices, and that the decision by the Environmental Protection Authority is also in breach of the principles contained in the Treaty of Waitangi – a fundamental constitutional document that establishes and guides the relationship between the government of New Zealand and the Maori peoples. “The Treaty promised to protect Māori culture and to enable Māori to continue to live in New Zealand as Māori,” it is written in New Zealand Law, a document of the University of Melbourne that is a guide to New Zealand Law.
Local Waiariki MP, Rawiri Waititi, has weighed into the matter by criticising the Port of Tauranga’s attempt to push forward with its expansion bid under the Fast-Track Approvals Act by allegedly seeking to include extra elements into the project that were allegedly not allowed under the relevant legislation.
“The Port tried to manipulate the wording to suit themselves,” Mr Waititi is reported to have said.
According to the Maori party of New Zealand, families continue to suffer from what the party describes as “toxic industries,” the surround the land of Whareroa (the land near Tauranga Harbour, which is historically and culturally important to the local tribal people, the Ngati Kuki). For the Ngati Kuku, the battle is more than the health of the harbour, the Maori party said, adding that it is about the survival of their people the land, their community, and their grandchildren.
“This is bigger than a port expansion. It is about ensuring the survival of hapū who have already lost too much at the hands of the Crown. Ngāti Kuku deserve respect,” The Maori party reported the MP Rawiri Waititi, as saying.
