Bad blood spills over into landfill hearing

DOME VALLEY LANDFILL Judge Jeff Smith said he was concerned by Hohneck’s latest evidence asserting that only the settlement trust could speak for Ngāti Manuhiri, as it countered the rights of all members of all tribes to speak for themselves, as well as a suggestion that Omaha Marae could only give evidence on matters directly affecting the marae itself.

Warnings against airing dirty laundry, mud-slinging and finger-pointing were all voiced in the Environment Court recently, when the feuding chairs of Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust (NMST) and Omaha Marae were cross-examined on their cultural evidence.

Judge Jeff Smith urged both parties to try to settle their differences, if only to deal not only with the current landfill hearing, but the equally contentious upcoming Pakiri sand mining appeals.

The court heard that new evidence submitted by NMST chair Mook Hohneck and marae chair Annie Baines showed obvious differences in opinion and allegations between the two, which prompted several lawyers to question whether such “he said, she said” testimony was useful or relevant to the appeals case. Before judges and commissioners could comment, Hohneck’s lawyer Jason Pou said he needed to respond.

“My friends take issue with the matters raised in response by Mr Hohneck, but the point is if you don’t want stones thrown at you, you shouldn’t throw stones in the first place,” Pou said. He cited examples of Ngāti Whātua claiming that Ngāti Manuhiri had breached tikanga (customary practice) and Fight the Tip “casting aspersions” on how the settlement trust exercised its authority, roles and responsibilities.

“Those matters will be responded to,” he said. “They can’t just throw things out in the wind and expect Ngāti Manuhiri not to respond.”

“To suggest that they are disenfranchised to the point where they can’t speak about anything apart from the marae is a huge step,” he said. “I’m not aware of any case that supports that position.”

After lengthy debate on those issues between Pou and Smith, the judge said that although the court recognised there was an apparent distinction between the NMST and the marae, the political issues within Ngāti Manuhiri were not helpful.

“The common view is it’s not going to be helpful to air dirty laundry,” he said.

“We’re reluctant to get into mud-slinging. We think it’s most unfortunate that the parties decided to descend into that in the first place. But it is what it is.

“We’re focusing on the relationship of the parties with the areas in question and that’s not only the landfill site, but the surrounding catchment.

“We note there’s further discussion of differences between them and allegations made disputed by other parties,” he added.

“That dispute is not relevant to this hearing.”

Smith later had cause to upbraid Pou for the line his cross-examination of Baines was taking, when he questioned her over an earlier defamation case won by Hohneck against her.