Mana | Movement of the People

Ae Marika! 12 November 2013

Last week Koroukore Marae in Ahipara was the scene of a very robust and vigorous discussion on deep sea mining.

Reuben Porter had invited officials to come up to present the government’s plan to grant exploration licences in the Te Reinga Basin, covering thousands of square kilometres of seabed off the coast of Te One Roa a Tohe.

Mind you, once they’d confirmed Reuben then sent out a panui to everybody else, so on the day the whare hui was packed with people who’d travelled from all round the far north to hear what was happening.

And you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out what the feeling was at the hui. Following a formal welcome, the floor was turned over to the officials to present the government’s plans. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t gotten very far before they were asked to leave, after which everyone else got a chance to speak.

Everyone who spoke was opposed to the mining proposals, but I couldn’t help thinking that the lessons from the Petrobras affair down in the Raukumara Basin in 2011 will be hugely important for us in the far north.

Deep sea oil drilling and mining are prohibitively expensive. The only companies that can afford to engage in it are from overseas. Their interest is not the environment, nor is it the people of the far north. Their first three priorities are profit, profit, and profit.

Deep sea oil drilling and mining work is mechanised and highly specialised, and companies like Petrobras and Anadarko already have their own crews. Local employment opportunities are very limited.

New Zealand does not have an effective deep sea oil spill response. We have two inflatables … and that’s it. When one ship ran aground outside Tauranga harbour we panicked. A deep sea oil spill out from Te Oneroa a Tohe would be thousands of times worse, and completely outside our capacity to manage.

Under the terms of the Marine and Coastal Area Bill, government has no obligation to listen to Maori on any plans it has regarding deep sea oil drilling and mining.

Since Raukumara government has decided not to publicly notify some mining exploration applications.

Raukumara also showed us that government will use the army, the navy, the air force and the police, against New Zealand citizens who protest deep sea oil drilling and mining. And since Raukumara, government has also passed a law making it illegal to protest at sea.

There’s a lot more to all this of course, but importantly, I hear that another hui is being called soon, where both Te Whanau-a-Apanui and Greenpeace can come up to share their experiences with us. Be nice to have the next hui outdoors, maybe down at Poroa, with a stage and a decent sound system, a couple of bands, things for the kids to do, some kai stalls, and some key speakers who can address the issues, and tell us what we might need to be doing over the next few months.

After that maybe a smaller group can take the issue around all the marae in the far north too, so that as many people as possible hear the message and come on board with the campaign.

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz.