Iwi stoush hits Auckland housing plan
The Government’s latest plan to increase housing supply in Auckland is facing a legal challenge from iwi who say they should be offered Crown land before it is sold to developers.
Ngati Whatua thought it would be given first right of refusal to Crown land up for grabs in Auckland. The Government announced as part of the Budget that 500 hectares of public land would be sold.
Labour’s housing spokesman Phil Twyford questioned why Housing Minister Nick Smith was going to such great lengths to cut out iwi, who were being ‘‘circumvented’’ on right of first refusal.
‘‘Ngati Whatua simply want to build affordable houses for the people of Auckland, so why is he trying to cut them out of the deal?’’
However Smith told the Social Services select committee there was no right of first refusal for Ngati Whatua under its Treaty settlement agreement, but there was one for the Tamaki Collective, which Ngati Whatua is an active and prominent member of.
Smith told reporters in Parliament that the Tamaki Redress Act, which gave effect to the first right of refusal collective, had a specific clause excluding land for housing purposes.
He thought there had been a misunderstanding with Ngati Whatua around what the rights of first refusal were, and he was not concerned about the project being derailed.
Section 136 of the Tamaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act said a right of first refusal landowner may dispose of land held for state housing purposes if the disposal was to achieve the Crown’s social objectives in relation to housing or services related to housing.
Smith
said
advice
he
had received from his ministry, and from Crown Law, said provided there was a social purpose in the housing, that met the requirement of the law.
Twyford said under Treaty settlements there was ‘‘a legal obligation to the Treaty partners to give them first right of refusal on the disposal of Crown lands.’’
‘‘Whether it’s as Ngati Whatua or whether it’s as the Tamaki Collective – if this Government thinks they can do a sneaky deal and circumvent that obligation, there’s a serious risk they may end up in court and it may upend their whole policy.’’
Smith was putting his whole Budget housing announcement at risk of judicial review, Twyford said.
Twyford said Smith was doing ‘‘a sneaky deal’’ to cut Ngati Whatua and the Tamaki Collective out of the development of what would presumably be hundreds of acres of land in Auckland.
The Maori Party said Ngati Whatua had sought legal advice after learning the Government had no intention of dealing with them over the sale of Governmentowned land in Auckland.
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell said he had asked the Government for an explanation.