Planning for maori land and traditional maori uses

Tu Tangata, Issue 18, 1 June 1984, Page 23

Planning for maori land and traditional maori uses

an interview with George Asher from the NZ Planning Council.

\ \ N A aori people have often missed out in matters affecting their \ / future lives. They’ve missed out by default a lot of the time, that V is not knowing about or participating in the planning process of what we’re doing with our country.”

George Asher, on the secretariat of the NZ Planning Council, has been working to get maori people to understand why it’s vital to have a say in the early stages of the planning.

“Maori people have been continually preoccupied with the work involved in determining title and suitable use for their land. There’s a whole raft of provisions to this effect under the Maori Affairs Act and its Amendments. But this preoccupation has often failed to flow on to an effective participation by maori in the planning process itself.

“The main reason is that most of New Zealand’s statutes relating to land have totally negated or failed to recognise and acknowledge the importance of maori cultural values.

“Past experiences have shown town and country planning legislation to be insensitive to the maori perspective of land. The maori concept of land as turangawaewae is a solid relationship that has sat uneasily with town and country planning legislation.

“The existing Town and Country Planning Act 1977 provides, as a matter of national importance, for the relationship of the maori people and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands. But a very slow rate of acceptance of maori values by planners and administrators has followed. The legal interpretations to date have given the narrowest possible definition to ancestral land, declaring it to comprise merely maori land or maori owned land.

“Many maori, on the other hand, assert that it is all land in New Zealand, and that the provisions should especially apply to those lands of high cultural value, whether or not they are owned by maori people.

“But the fact that there’s not much maori land left gives maori land a particular cultural significance within this context.

“It’s this cultural sensitivity to maori aspirations for the use of the land, not only as a cultural asset, but also as a social and economic base that should be the key to maori participation in planning. Fortunately there are some enlighted planners and councillors who’ve stepped outside of entrenched

institutional values and have made the effort to accommodate maori community responses. These efforts have eased the pressure the planning system imposes on maori people.” What are these pressures? “Well most maori people are unable to use their land as they want. In rural areas, where most maori land is, maori people want to build marae and live close by to whakamahana, to keep the fires burning and not be restricted to living in the nearest residential area. Some district schemes contain papakainga zones and maori purpose zones and employ other techniques, but the application is sometimes inconsistent with the needs of the tangata whenua. “You see town and country planning control is maintained by imposing regulations which state what can’t be done with land. It’s also oriented toward the future. What is established now is the result of planning at an earlier date. That’s why maori values and understanding must be considered at the earliest possible stage in order to accommodate urgent maori needs. In some areas of New Zealand now, one has to attempt to undo part of the planning process. It’s very difficult to do this in many cases as it upsets the status quo.

“The clear message is that maori people have to be there when a district scheme is being considered or under review. This generally happens every five years in districts or ten years in regions. It’s advertised in the public

notices of the local newspapers. There’s a three month period where people can write out and send in their submissions on the proposed scheme. After this time the local council will consider the submissions and objections and make any changes it sees fit in the light of these objections. Maori people need to participate in all levels of planning to influence those changes in their best interests. “The same momentum that has brought changes to the education system with the advent of kohanga reo is also affecting land use planning. Maori cultural assertiveness is making it plain to planners, law-makers and administrators that maori aspirations need to be incorporated into all levels of life. Urban planning considerations for the maori people have also got to be looked at in this light, so that we can get beyond the stereotyped response to the setting up of token institutions, which may provide some cultural sustenance, but are of little value for effectively contributing to the social and economic development of maori people. “The other key to solving these sorts of problems is sensitivity to Maori values by administrators and the ability of maori people to articulate their needs. . . in short, communication.”