Opua¯ better for port

Co-governance stance

In response to NZ First leader Winston Peters’ policy statement on co-governance and the Treaty of Waitangi.

He has got it half-right.

In this submission, co-governance in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi is a mismatch.

The question is whether that is sufficient reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

It’s about Mā ori land management structure reform determining the creation of autonomous tribal districts where the legal construct for co-governance is reconciled to the mechanism, administration and resources provided by local government specifically to do with the Mā ori Land Act/1993 and the provisions made for tribal Mā ori reservation status as opposed to any form of apartheid regime.

Name supplied

Whangārei

I attended a very interesting and factrevealing talk at the library about the history and shipping in Opua, Bay of Islands. The battle of the ports between Ō pua and Whangā rei was mentioned. For at least the first half of the 20th century, there was a rail line carrying coal and other freight plus passengers to Ō pua.

Obviously, Whangā rei won the politically fuelled “battle of the ports” but three-quarters of a century later, it is still a port with no rail link! Maybe the port should have remained in Ō pua, which was served by a very efficient rail freight and passenger service then. With extremely heavy trucks crunching the Northland roads and the demise of the rail system in the North, the question to be raised is . . . is the NZ transport system (in the North in particular) forward or backwards?

Marie Kaire Ngararatunua Editor’s note: It was reported in September that the KiwiRail board has considered a draft business case for a rail link to Northport, and it is now being developed further.