A David and Goliath battle
Debbie NgarewaPacker is the first of five nominees for the 2018 Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year. Helen Harvey has interviewed each of the finalists. The winner will be announced on New Year’s Day.
For the best part of four years Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been at the forefront of the battle against seabed mining off the coast of South Taranaki.
In August last year, TransTasman Resources was given consent to mine up to 50 million tonnes of iron sand from a 66 square kilometre area off the South Taranaki Bight for 35 years.
The decision was later overturned, appealed, and is heading to the Court of Appeal in 2019 for a final decision.
In her day job, NgarewaPacker has the role of kaiarataki at Te Runanga o Ngati Ruanui, but says this battle is not about race.
‘‘We all have the same respect for our natural resources.’’
Although much is unknown about the impact of seabed mining, it has galvanised young and old, Ma¯ori and non Ma¯ori, urban and rural, she says.
‘‘And that’s so important, because it has very much been a David and Goliath story, where individuals who have lived here for generations, of all races, have felt there needed to be some strong leadership and lobbying. So we ended up leading this kaupapa not just for the iwi. I think that in itself says a lot.
‘‘There’s not a lot of things as communities and probably as New Zealanders that we are absolutely united on and seabed mining was it.’’
Ngarewa-Packer has been nominated for Taranaki Daily
News Person of the Year 2018 for the role she has taken in this issue.
She’s one of a collective, Ngarewa-Packer, 52, says.
‘‘It’s never about the individual. That’s the reason behind my reluctance to even have this conversation. But probably, it’s about the future and anything that is going to adversely affect future generations is something we take very seriously.’’
Seabed mining is a little bit different than other oil and gas extraction activities that go on, she says.
‘‘A lot of what they are proposing is unprecedented. As a region we get the (economic and environmental) trade-offs.
‘‘I think that the critical thing is throughout it all there was never any evidence provided that there was not going to be any damage to the environment.’’
Usually there is science, there is data, there is some type of evidence, she says.
‘‘But in this it was very speculative. It’s more disruptive. You get an oil rig, you drill a hole and it stays put. This is proposing to go over a huge amount of area for a long amount of time.
‘‘No matter how desperate we are for economic development
You get an oil rig, you drill a hole and it stays put.
there is a unity about wanting to make sure the next generation inherit something – the ocean.’’
Taranaki is coastal and people take pride in our relationship with the sea, she says.
‘‘We love the sea. We love to surf. We love to fish. I doubt there are many in Taranaki that can’t relate to the ocean.’’
She had to call on a lot of networks to co-ordinate what was a growing movement.
‘‘It’s humbling, the people who helped. Amazing goodwill pushed us across.
‘‘Iwi are used to lobbying but not at this scale. And they were contending with opposition that had big budgets, with full page ads and interactive videos that made it look like there was this tiny little tractor vacuum quietly on the bottom of the ocean where there was no sea life.’’ And she is not finished yet. ‘‘Even if we’re successful in the next court I have no doubt they will take it to the Supreme [Court], so you have to make the sacrifices. But it’s been brilliant that we have been able to go to court and win twice.’’
The fight has been timeconsuming, she says.
‘‘It’s been probably hours that you never expect. I think for anyone who is involving in leading or co-ordinating a kaupapa like this it is a 24 hours kaupapa.
‘‘It becomes part of your brand whether you like that, whether you are prepared for that, or not.
‘‘You don’t get to pick and choose when you want to lead it. You don’t get to pick and choose how you are seen and it would be wrong for me not to say people can use their own personal agendas to knock you down.
‘‘Most people who front or lead a kaupapa have to confront that.’’