Halt to Te Urewera huts’ destruction ordered
The High Court has ordered an immediate halt to the destruction of the hut network in Te Urewera.
In an interim ruling released by the High Court in Rotorua yesterday, Justice Mark Woolford said Te Urewera Board and the Trustees of Tūhoe-te Uru Taumatua, their employees and contractors, must ‘‘immediately cease their programme to demolish or remove the huts’’.
Justice Woolford also said the Trustees of Tūhoe-te Uru Taumatua had to file a list of the huts that had been demolished.
The ruling comes after Wharenui Clyde Tuna asked the court to halt ‘‘the hasty destruction by fire of the hut network throughout Te Urewera’’. Tuna told the court that the destruction of the huts, which he said commenced last month, ‘‘has caused great distress and loss of wairua for the applicant and affects his Tūhoetana’’.
‘‘The applicant believes between 15 and 20 huts have been burnt down,’’ the judgment said.
‘‘It is apparent that the second respondent intends to continue with its project to destroy the huts. Its publicly stated objective is to have destroyed them all before Christmas 2022.’’
Justice Woolford also noted concerns raised by Ngā Tapuwae O Tāneatua Tramping Club president Peter Donald Askey. ‘‘[Askey] says the hut network provides an essential contingency . . . if things go wrong due to weather, illness or injury.’’
Tuna also said there had been errors in the process, including a failure to take into account the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of Te Urewera; a failure to take into account freedom of entry and access; and a failure to allow hapū to comment.
There had been a failure to ‘‘consult with the wider public regarding the potential impact on free public access to Te Urewera’’.
A spokesperson for Trustees of Tūhoe-te Uru Taumatua said it would comply with the interim injunction. The arguments of the case were yet to be heard, he said.
The removal of the huts sparked a demonstration last month by hundreds of people – led by Tūhoe kaumātua – in Tāneatua. Spokesperson kaumātua Paki Nikora, said: ‘‘We are here because of the desecration of all our huts that have all had a historical connection to Tūhoe, and also all the hunters and trampers that frequented Te Urewera over 50 years plus.
‘‘You can’t tell me a hut that sheltered our people for that long doesn’t belong to Te Urewera.’’
Stuff reported last month that the Department of Conservation, which owns the huts, had no objections to their removal.