The Green Party supports the peaceful occupation at Lake Rotokākahi and are calling for the controversial sewerage project on the lake to be stopped until the Environment Court has made a decision.
"We stand in solidarity with the peaceful Lake Rotokākahi resistance and are calling for a stop to all works. For too long Māori land has been confiscated, corrupted and condemned to degradation," says the Green Party's spokesperson for Māori Development Hūhana Lyndon.
"As tangata whenua, we should be empowered to look after the lands our tūpuna have cared for across generations. This is something that would benefit us all.
"Lake Rotokākahi is a wāhi tapu, a sacred site for Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera, as it is a resting place for their tūpuna who died in the 1886 eruption of Tarawera maunga. The path of the sewerage pipeline past Lake Rotokākahi puts the sacred lake at risk of environmental damage and the desecration of this wāhi tapu.
"Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera have consistently opposed the council bringing the sewerage pipe through their wāhi tapu. For over a year, there have been protests, a hīkoi, and occupation led by mana whenua. It is abhorrent that this is what mana whenua have been met with.
"Works must stop until the Environment Court has been given the opportunity to assess this project.
"Our institutions and the legislation that supports them contribute to the entrenchment of colonisation through the constant and consistent taking of Māori land. Whether it be the Resource Management Act, Public Works Act or now Fast Track, the rules that govern the use of land are failing to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, failing Māori and are failing the environment we all depend on," says Hūhana Lyndon.
