By Jo Moir of RNZ
The government is reviewing the management of the highly-disputed land at Ihumātao almost four years after the Crown purchased it.
In December 2020, the then-Labour government announced it had struck a deal with Fletcher Building to buy the land for just shy of $30 million.
By that point, those opposed to a 480-odd housing development at the site had been blocking any construction and occupying the area in Māngere, South Auckland, for years.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop told RNZ today that coalition parties opposed the deal at the time, and little progress has been made by the committee tasked with deciding how to use the land.
"All I'll say is, it obviously is frustrating that you've got land there that could be being used for housing and that's not happening at the moment.
"Clearly we've inherited a fudge of a situation ... I don't think anyone was happy with what happened under the previous government and we were critical of it at the time."
Bishop said he had not yet met with his associate minister, Tama Potaka, about the matter and did not want to get too far ahead of any decision-making.
Potaka, who is also Māori Development Minister, said today he was working on finding a constructive and enduring solution and supported the group set up to manage the land to do that.
Those comments contrasted previous remarks where he raised the prospect of dissolving the group if it was not working.
"There are different groups involved, and there are different views, and that includes the Kiingitanga," he told reporters today.
The steering committee - Rōpu Whakahaere - is made-up of three Ahi Kā representatives supported by the Kiingitanga, one Kiingitanga representative, and two Crown representatives.
It took 18 months from the Crown purchasing the land before the group first met due to the various mana whenua involved and differing views on who should be represented and trepidiation about the process.
As it stands, the Ahi Kā representatives are made up of mana whenua from Te Aakitai Waiohaua, Te Kawerau aa Maki and Te Ahiwaru.
But Potaka said the lack of consensus amongst those groups was making progress difficult.
"We have to be very careful when we throw a korowai of mana whenua over a question without being deliberately clear who we're talking about.
"What I'm focused on is ensuring we get a constructive and enduring solution, what we can't do is presume all the mana whenua groups have the same view, we cannot do that."
Potaka said there had been a number of discussions over the years about the role of the Rōpu Whakahaere and "whether or not they're doing the job".
"Certainly when the land was bought several years ago for $30m by the previous Labour government, we thought it was an outrageous step into a space that was quite challenging."
He said nothing of substance happened in the next two years despite it having cost the Crown $500,000 so far.
The Minister bristled at a question line this morning about how mana whenua responded to the idea of dissolving the Rōpu Whakahaere.
"I think it's a pretty rich question when you don't know who you're talking about ... who are you talking about, which mana whenua?"
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Cabinet had not had discussions yet about scrapping the 2020 deal, which included leaving it to the steering committee to decide how to use the land.
"I think Tama Potaka's right to ask the question, saying we've spent $500,000, we've had four years and nothing much has happened, are we getting good value for money or not?"
Labour's Willie Jackson, who was Māori Development Minister when the steering committee formed, said Potaka's comments about its future were unacceptable.
"The reality is they should be given space and time, there's a long history there, and yes it's taking time but we have an agreement and he should just step out."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told RNZ the government had set aside five years for the various representatives to determine how to use the land, "and that five years isn't up".
"If that process does reach an agreement and gets something constructive coming out the other side of it then that will be money well spent. Ultimately that site is sitting there empty at the moment and we do need to figure out what is happening with it."
