Cape Brett, Oke Bay Lodge, and Julian Batchelor:

Te komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua spokesperson Katherine Paaka Raue was recently interviewed by Dale Husband on Irirangi Waatea regarding the situation between Auckland property developer Julian Batchelor, the Far North District Council, and the local hapu and tangata whenua at Hauai and Opourua in Ipipiri, and Julian Batchelor's plans for land he occupies - and a lot of other land, all the way on out to Rakaumangamanga in fact.

Julian Batchelor seems to have laid claim to "Cape Brett", by way of claim to intellectual property which he doesn't own, and by way of taking liberties regarding the publication of information which is seriously questionable - not least being the claim that the land is owned by a charitable religious "trust" when in fact it is owned by a limited liability company which is controlled exclusively by Julian Batchelor.

Batchelor's plans include an "international evangelisation centre" based on the property he currently occupies and a wide ranging a large scale commercial enterprise which exploits the local tangata whenua and their taonga for the exclusive benefit of Julian Batchelor, and the tangata whenua have had enough.

Evidence of the pollution to the sea caused by run off from Mr Batchelor's unlawful and unconsented 'works'

Te komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua insisted that the Far North District Council issue a stop work notice to Julian Batchelor immediately following confirmation of the fact that Batchelor's 'work' was unconsented and in breach of the law.  Since then problems have escalated, with Batchelor initiating physical confrontations with users of the track up to our wahi tapu, Batchelor then makes complaints to Police in an attempt to 'establish a pattern of being a victim' - he lacks any insight into the fact that he's the perpetrator not the victim, and further serious environmental destruction caused by the run off of rainwater and overflow of storm water from the property Batchelor occupies - due to his illegal and unconsented 'works'.

The interview is at this link.

Far North District Council confirm Batchelor has not provided ANY of the information required by the deadlines:

The Far North District Council wrote to Julian Batchelor regarding the unconsented and illegal works on the land he currently occupies at Rawhiti on 13 November last year:

Following the stop work notice and the news of the likely damage to the archaeological sites and the recent pollution of the sea, the Far North District Council have finally responded to the information request from Katherine Raue which was originally made on 7th November, for all information about the unconsented an unlawful works.  Batchelor should have provided all this information to the hapu Resource Management Unit a long time ago according to the law.  Here is the damning and rather incriminating response that we received this afternoon from "Alice" in the Wonderland that seems to be the Far North District Council legal department:

Māori and Iwi Say No to Bay of Islands Marine Reserves:

Māori and iwi fish representatives combined to send a clear message to promoters of a marine reserve in the Bay of Islands they wouldn’t support the idea.

Individual fishers, lobby groups and representatives of iwi and hapū gathered under the umbrella of the Hokianga Accord and met in Paihia today (August 7) to consider the idea of the Bay of Islands marine reserve being promoted by Fish Forever.

Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-O-Ngāpuhi Chair Rāniera (Sonny) Tau said a marine reserve would prohibit Māori access to gather kai moana and fish.

“With marine reserves you can’t go out and get your kai when you want,” he said. “On the land we can practice our traditions of gathering food when we want.”

Sonny said a better solution was a mataitai reserve where the tangata whenua manage all non commercial fishing by making bylaws. A mataitai also gave locals the ability to keep the commercial fishers out of a given area.

“The fact for our iwi and hapū is that when you lock up a place like that forever [put in place a marine reserve] you move the fisheries pressure point from that to other areas,” said Sonny.

“The fish don’t know where the boundaries are [for marine reserves]. Just because you say it’s a marine reserve doesn’t mean the fish know its boundaries.”

Greenpeace representaive Mike Smith supported Sonny’s comments, even though he noted he had seen firsthand the benefits of marine reserves.

“There was a time when I was young with a family and I couldn’t afford to feed my kids and I had to rely on the sea. It’s the difference between your kids eating or not,” said Mike.

“The last thing we want to be doing is criminalising our people because it doesn’t work.”

Waitangi resident Albie Apiata said he had seen a lot of bad practices, especially by commercial fishers and chartered boat operators.

“It hurts,” said Albie. “The commercial operators and the charter boats exceed the bag limits for the sake of overseas tourists and then when they’re finished or can’t eat what they’ve caught they dump it in our water.”

“Four years ago we told Fish Forever not to shut our cupboard [access to the sea]. If you do that then you better have another cupboard,” he said.

“Our people don’t want our cupboard shut down.”

Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha representative Jackie Rewha said a comprehensive mana moana fisheries management plan was in place in Te Rawhiti, including a rahui in Maunganui Bay.

Fish Forever spokesman Vince Kerr said marine reserves were not new and had been supported by other iwi, including Ngāti Porou and Ngai Tahu.

Their proposal is to establish marine sanctuaries in Waewaetorea Reserve and Maunganui Bay.

He said marine reserves slowly increase productivity in the natural ecosystem.

“So the ocean floor resembles that that existed thousands of years ago. Even though there’s displacement coming out of the marine reserve, the productivity outweighs the displacement... it’s like throwing a turbo charger under the environment where restoration can take place.”

Bay of Islands marine reserves were necessary to return the area to its natural state and replenish the marine biodiversity.

Fish Forever’s objective is to protect approximately 10% of the enclosed waters in the Bay of Islands as a network of no-take areas.