Nau mai matauranga, engari mohio, whakahakune ana. Kei nga iho pumanawa o te motu rarau mai ki Te Hui. Ko Mihingarangi tenei e mihi atu nei, nau mai, tahuti mai ra. Welcome to The Hui, Maori current affairs for all New Zealanders. E taro ake nei. It's Maori land in Maori hands, so why has the Maori Land Court allowed Pakeha farmers to sell it? It's everything. It's all that we are. We are the land. The land is us. We meet a Taranaki whanau fighting to hold on to their whenua. Losing's not an option. I'll fight you till my dying day. And the opera world was his oyster, but Kawiti Waetford tells us why he chose te ao Maori instead. MAN: Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 Karahuihui mai. Two Taranaki families have been caught up in a tug-of-war over a piece of land they both believe is theirs. Haumoana White is adamant it's whanau land, he taonga tuku iho, but a Pakeha family has been awarded the land title by the Maori Land Court. Rewa Harriman visited the lands at Tongapuroto on Taranaki's rugged West Coast. Anei te purongo. (SERENE MUSIC) It's a little piece of paradise in Taranaki ` a breath-taking block of land by the sea. There you are. You can fit through. But to Haumoana White and his whanau, it's simply home. It's everything. It's all that we are, you know. We are the land. The land is us. (MUSIC DARKENS) Now part of where he calls home could be taken from him by a Pakeha family who believe they own this land too. Losing is not an option. Our feet, our bones, are too far into this... into this land. Our blood is here. That piece of land ` or any lands that we belong to ` has no price. It's priceless. (SNIFFLES) This is a story about two families with two seemingly legitimate claims to one piece of whenua. And you've always considered this your land? Well, we not only believed it; we worked it. We were on it. You've always occupied it? Always occupied it. The nearest we ever came to not farming it was when... my wife had a stroke and became disabled, so we were limited to what we could do. Haumoana had never questioned whether the land belonged to his whanau, but all that changed when a local landowner, Angela Potroz, turned up out of the blue. Mrs Potroz came to my door and said I've got to get the stock off the property over there, that block over there, cos she now owned it. I said, 'Since when?' And she showed me this piece of paper. How did you react to that news? Really, really annoyed. Shocked? Shocked. Shocked, yeah. I said to her, 'Well, I'll fight you till my dying day.' The seeds of this dispute were sown in the 1920s, when Haumoana White's uncle, Kereni Wetini, decided to sell some of his land to a Pakeha farmer. By 1929, nothing had happened, so the 1926 sale and purchase agreement was rescinded... for lack of completion. In 1933, the deal was back on. According to court documents, a certificate of confirmation was issued by the Maori Land Board, confirming that the Pakeha farmer had paid the agreed price for the land, but the sale was pending some conditions, and the money stayed with the Maori Land Board. Despite not meeting those conditions, the farmer was still somehow able to on-sell the land. In time, it was sold again and again, from Pakeha buyer to Pakeha buyer, with the owners' names only ever changing on the memorandum of transfer. Their names never appeared on the actual land title. That stayed in Maori hands. Very difficult to explain to whakapapa what's happened from... 1926 right till to now. They even lose interest at about 1930s. (CHUCKLES) This is the block of land next to Haumoana's house is part of the 36ha of Maori freehold land that's being disputed in Tongaporutu, a small settlement in north Taranaki. Haumoana's father and uncle were gifted blocks of land by their father, Te Oro. For years, both blocks have been part of the whanau papakainga. What's at stake now is losing half their whenua and their access to the beach. It's sort of hard to comprehend how we're meant to feel. It's very mamae. I think that that's our responsibility ` to preserve what we have here that's been passed down. In 2003, the Potroz family believed they bought the piece of land with a neighbouring block. Angela Potroz told RNZ it wasn't until five years later they discovered a problem. When we went to sell it to pay our debt off to the bank, that block, we couldn't sell it cos it didn't have a proper title. It had a memorandum of title, but it didn't have its proper title, so that land got left. What Haumoana and his whanau didn't know was the Potroz family had gone to the Maori Land Court to get the land title in their name. We had no notification from the Maori Land Court. As far as we were aware, it was still in Maori title. When Haumoana found out, he successfully appealed for the case to be reheard so his whanau could represent their side of the story, because in their eyes, the original land sale way back in 1933 was never completed. Russell Gibbs has been the whanau advocate in court for the last three years. He says he's alarmed by how this case has been handled. The Maori Land Court have facilitated the loss of this land. The LINZ title, it was held in the name of the Maori owners. The Maori court records ` the last transaction on their records was a succession order that had been signed and sealed, and so at every level, Maori still owned that land. Since the death of his uncle in 1943, Haumoana and his whanau believed the land was theirs. Their uncle had left it to them in his will. After two hearings and two appeals, the Maori Land Court ruled that the succession orders in 1945 were an error and the sale was valid. In the court's eyes, the land was already sold; it was no longer his uncle's to give away. So in 2014, the Maori Land Court determined ownership to the Potroz family. If it sets a precedent, that puts in jeopardy... every succession in this country. You can go back 70 years. You can go back 100 years. You can go back to settlement if you want. Be very afraid that the judges can do that. Maori lawyer Dayle Takitimu agrees this case is complicated. It's definitely confusing. There's no doubt about that. And I'm sure each of the respective parties would consider their side of the tale legitimate. What are the injustices here? There's been some balls-ups (CHUCKLES) in terms of the process. And this is from way back. We're talking about a long, long time ago and little hiccups along the way. It's the compounding nature of that that you actually end up with bit of a shambles and a bit of a jigsaw puzzle that doesn't quite have all the pieces to it in a legal sense. And it gets even more interesting, because this is Maori freehold land now owned by Pakeha. It is unusual. I wouldn't say that this is the only case of it, but it is unusual, and, in fact, it's against the thrust or the ethos of the Act itself. You know, a big preamble in the Act is about the retention of Maori land as a taonga tuku iho, which is difficult, obviously, in any interpretive sense, to say that Pakeha could hold Maori land as a taonga tuku iho. Both Russell and Haumoana are convinced the original sale was never completed and say their uncle never received a penny for his whenua. We thought it was all finished ` no money, no deal. Is this modern-day land confiscation? Oh, I'm sure it's modern-day land confiscation. The purpose of the Ture Whenua was supposed to be to retain Maori land, not dispose of it. And if you look at what the court's done in this process, right from 2013, they have actively disposed of this land and not protected the Maori landowners at all. The whanau have taken things into their own hands, cementing their whanau links to the whenua by building a small wharenui on the land. To an extent, it was to show that we're not going, but to our view, it's sorta like it is a passive way of protesting. He tohu tera... I te mana motuhake. It's our statement that this is ours... and will remain ours. (SOLEMN MUSIC) Na Rewa Harriman tera ripoata. We asked the Potroz family to be interviewed as part of our story, but they declined. A ko ake nei ko tetahi o nga manu tioriori o te ao opera, kua auraki atu ki tana kohanga. Opera singer Kawiti Waetford is next. Auraki mai ano. Opera singer Kawiti Waetford entertained crowds on some of the most prestigious stages in the world. His future was bright, but his love for te ao Maori, the Maori world, sang much louder. Raiha Paki travelled to Matapouri in the north to hear what is now making his heart sing. (MAN SINGS OPERA) He reo roreka. He tane i pakeke mai i roto i nga ahuatanga Maori. Kua puta ki taiatea kua eke ki nga taumata ikeike o te opera. (SINGS UPBEAT OPERA) (HOLDS NOTE) (CONTINUES SINGING) Ahakoa tena i huri tuara ia ki te ao opera, hei whakautu i te karanga a te kainga. (SPEAKS MAORI) (LIP-TRILLS) (LAUGHTER) Koia tenei ko te ao o Kawiti Waetford i tenei wa. # Hei awhina, hei tohutohu i a matou. # Toru, wha. ALL: # Hei awhina, hei tohutohu i a matou. # Ko te poipoi i nga rangatahi Maori tona kaingakau. # Hei awhina, hei tohutohu i a matou. # I konei, i tona kura o mua, ara te kura kaupapa Maori o Te Rawhitiroa i Tikipunga, he whakaako pukenga waiata te mahi i tenei ra. # ...a koe. # (CLICKS TONGUE) Choice. Na reira ko toku whainga kia whai tauira ratou kia kite ratou i nga hua tenei mea te mou te ou ki te ao Maori. He told me he was quite a shy boy. He was a little bit shy. We had a whanau concert there one year, and I don't think he liked that very much. He just was really uncomfortable with all the people there. When did you notice that he had a voice? He always liked to play Phantom of the Opera, and he liked to be the Phantom and that sort of thing, so we must've played that music. I used to sing to the kids, like nannies do. (SINGS OPERA) (SINGS OPERA) (PLAYS PIANO) (HOLDS NOTE) (FINISHES SONG) (LIGHT ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC) (SPEAKS MAORI) Ae i kite ia i nga hua o te hoki mai ki te kainga me te hapai, te awhi, te tautoko i nga kaupapa kei te kainga i runga i taku whakatipu ki roto i te ao Maori. Me tana tautoko, akiaki kia hoki mai. (LAUGHTER, INDISTINCT CHATTER) (UPBEAT MUSIC) He hua o roto i te hikoi i tenei hikoi. Ae, ko te whakatauira i tenei mea i te reka o te reo Maori, i te murere o to tatou reo me ona tini ahuatanga. Me pera ka tika, ki te kore tatou e hono ki wenei, ko wai hei tauira. I a au i te kura nei, ka hoki taku mahara ki te wa i tae mai wera o pukana me taku whakamiharo. Mena ka taea e au tera mo enei, ano te reka. Ko ta Nana Patsy, e poho kereru ana ia i tana mokopuna. Engari he mea nui ki a ia kia humarie tonu a kawiti. I've talked to him about humbleness. Just remember when you come home, you clean the toilet. But it wasn't putting him down; it was just to keep him level, I suppose, so that his head didn't swell. I think he's done that very well, actually. (SINGS OPERA) (SINGS SOFTLY IN MAORI, PLAYS GUITAR) I te nei wa e noho tomua ana tana hiahia ki te awhina i o na tangata. Ka hoki mahara ki tera korero a taku tipuna a te ruki e mea ana, 'titiro ki nga taumata o te moana, kei reira te oranga mo koutou a muri ake nei.' Kua takatakahia e au tara ara ki tuawhenua, ki whenua ke. Ki nga taumata o te moana. Hoki rawa mai ki te kainga ano. (SINGS SOFTLY IN MAORI, PLAYS GUITAR) Rawe. Next the co-leader of the Green Party weighs in on the Taumarunui power issue. Noho tonu mai ra. Hoki mai ano. Well, last week The Hui broadcast a story about Pixie Hepi Te Huia, a grandmother in a wheelchair who was going without lighting and heating to reduce her power bill. The cost of power in the King Country is some of the most expensive in the country. Mrs Hepi Te Huia planned to install a solar power starter package worth $3000 for free ` an initiative to help low-income families reduce their bills. MAN: Look at that. PIXIE: Look at how big they are! Look at that, hey? This is gonna save me money. That's gonna save you a lot of money. Cool. So, are you excited? Yeah. Cool, eh? Very cool. While Pixie will still have to pay her lines bill, she could save up to $100 a month on her power bill. With all the money I paid the lines company, I could have had heaps of panels. LAUGHS: 20 years. Could have had my whole house in solar system. (LAUGHS) Earlier this week, Pixie was told by Housing New Zealand she isn't allowed to install the solar panels on the property she rents from them. We asked Minister Phil Twyford to provide us with a statement, but he declined, saying it was an operational matter. That's despite Labour campaigning to transition to renewable energy. Following our inquiries, Housing New Zealand tells us, 'We have met with Pixie Hepi Te Huia to better understand her situation. 'We are now working through options with her to achieve a more sustainable outcome 'with the objective of ensuring her home is warm and dry. 'For example, we are going to talk with the Ministry of Social Development 'to see what options are available to ensure she can afford her power bills. 'One of these outcomes may involve a solar panel option.' Well, to discuss this, I'm joined by Greens leader Marama Davidson. Tena koe. Morena, Mihi. Why can't Pixie Hepi Te Huia just have a warm home? This is a sensible idea, actually, and I think that state houses should all have solar panels to be able to help people on lower incomes have affordable power. It's a really sensible thing to do. Have you had this discussion with the Housing Minister? Yes. When I saw the story through The Hui, I contacted the Minister, and the office has told me that they have actually looked into the situation and they too want to ensure that Pixie isn't left in a really unfair situation and is able to turn on heating and lights. But she is in an unfair situation because she's been told she can't put these solar panels on there. So when the government passes` I've got the Healthy Homes press release here, and it says, 'Every New Zealander deserves a warm, healthy home to live in,' and it talks about the 40,000 children that are possibly going to hospital with sicknesses because of damp homes. Pixie's home is damp, and it's cold. Yeah. So when a government's passing this kind of stuff, what do you say to them? Pixie's situation is absolutely ridiculous, and there is no government that the Greens could be part of that would allow this to continue, so I understand that the Minister has asked Housing New Zealand to look into actually making sure that Pixie can either have assistance to pay those humungous power bills or that Housing New Zealand can allow for solar panels to be installed. So, will you be following up with this ` that people in the King Country are able, in their Housing New Zealand homes, to have solar power? Absolutely, and the government was able to announce one of the most important parts of the Greens' agreement with Labour, which is the Winter Energy Subsidy for people on lower incomes. No one should have to think twice about turning on their heating or their lights, particularly when it's cold. In the meantime, while Housing New Zealand is trying to sort out whether it is generally supportive of solar powers in general, those people in the King Country who have two bills, particularly those people who are on benefits, like Pixie, who's on a disability benefit, should she be getting an extra payment from WINZ to pay for that second bill? This highlights the very confusing, complex situation of lots of power lines and having to sell that through retailers. So, Greens have long wanted to clean that up. And this also highlights the need for power independence ` for people to be able to have more control over the power that they're buying and using ` hence, again, solar panels. So, Pixie's bill can be up to $500 a month,... Yeah, that's ridiculous. ...which is a lot more than other people who are on disability benefits, but she can't get away from that because she's got two bills. Will you support, will you ask the Minister of Social Development or Ministry of Social Development to assist people like Pixie in the meantime while Housing New Zealand sorts out whether they support solar panels? Both Housing New Zealand and Work and Income need to step up. They need to realise this is a new government. It's one that has far more compassion than the previous National government. And I will be following up to make sure` working and supporting the minister, Phil Twyford, who himself is also looking into this situation, and I'm told he wants to make sure we can get a fair outcome. And this is exactly, again, why solar panels for homes should be installed for state houses but actually for as many homes as we possibly can. Is this about a change of culture, perhaps, in Housing New Zealand? Across the departments, I think people need to realise this is a new government. We actually want to put the well-being of people first. We're going to look into how we can do that. But certainly, in this situation, I am glad to see the Minister asking Housing New Zealand and asking Housing New Zealand to work to find a decent outcome for Pixie. So will you advocate for Pixie in this case? Oh, already. And, again, contacted the Minister's office as soon as I heard what was happening, and I'm pleased to see he's looking into it as well. So, Whaia Pixie, Marama's gonna give you a call. Kia kaha. (BOTH CHUCKLE) Just generally, on your co-leadership, what are some of your priorities? Oh my goodness. Well, housing ` I am the spokesperson for housing, and you would have seen yesterday I announced my portfolios and the portfolio reshuffle. Housing is going to remain a massive priority for me, but the mix of my new portfolios show that I am going to be across social, economic, and environmental issues, because they are all connected. Any pet projects? So, homelessness ` and I was pleased to see the Minister a few days ago announce more places for people through the winter to get people through the winter ` that's going to remain a massive priority for me. And cleaning up our rivers and making sure that Maori have kaitiaki responsibilities upheld over our water and the quality of our water as well. Ka pai. We'll be following with great interest from The Hui. Kia ora. Tena rawa atu koe. Kua hikina Te Hui mo tenei ra. Newshub Nation's next. Pai marire ki a tatou katoa. Captions by Madison Batten. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 ALL: He mea tautoko na Te Mangai Paho. The Hui is made with support from New Zealand On Air.