He roimata ua, he roimata tangata. E te tuakana Nancy auraki atu ra ki te ka punipuni tanga o nga wairua. Ki o tupuna e tatari ana ki a koe. Ko Mihingarangi tenei e tangi atu nei, e mihi atu nei. Welcome to The Hui ` Maori current affairs for all New Zealanders. E taro ake nei... Ko totara wahi rua te hapori. A community divided. We look at the row over the removal of exotic trees at Owairaka Mt Albert. What we don't agree with is the gruesome massacre... of mature trees, and for them just to remove them we find totally abhorrent. Revitalisation or vandalisation? Can you guarantee that you won't be felling any of those trees that have the native birds in them? Yeah, we can guarantee. That's a requirement of the resource consent. And just who is mana whenua? Well, are you mana whenua? I came here in a waka like everyone else. Brown, beautiful and brilliant ` we meet the siblings carving up the stage at the World of Wearable Arts. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 Well, one of the biggest stories of 2019 has been the land occupation at Ihumatao. Now, just 15km away in Mt Albert, another occupation is underway. For nearly two weeks, a handful of locals have been camping out on its iconic mountain, protesting the planned removal of 345 mature exotic trees. They're being felled to make way for natives that'll provide a habitat for the native birds. It's part of a regeneration programme being undertaken by the Tupuna Maunga Authority ` a collective of Auckland iwi responsible for the region's volcanic cones ` a move that's ruffled feathers. (SPEAKS MAORI) (RELAXED GUITAR MUSIC) The volcanic cone of Owairaka Mt Albert has laid dormant for millennia. But at the foot of this iconic maunga, trouble is erupting. A dozen signs are dotted around the entrance, and curious walkers look on. There's an occupation under way, but it's not the kind we're familiar with. Community advocate Lisa Prager explains. We agree on the idea of native regeneration on this mountain. What we don't agree with is the... gruesome massacre... of mature trees that provide a food source for the native tui, kereru, morepork, kingfisher. They provide habitat for insects and lizards. And for them just to remove them without any regard for that we find totally abhorrent. And the people of this area have come together, mainly because it was a shock to them to discover this was going to happen. They're holding a peaceful sit-in, surrounded by the native birds they say they're fighting to protect. But the Tupuna Maunga Authority's chairman, Paul Majurey, says they have nothing to worry about. Their concern is around the native birds and the wildlife, and they say that they're nesting in some of those exotic trees. Can you guarantee that you won't be felling any of those trees that have the native birds in them? Yeah, we can guarantee. That's a requirement of the resource consent. Our contractors have been very clearly instructed that all conditions of the resource consent will be met. Trees with any nesting birds have been identified and won't be touched. So importantly, we've had independent experts ` ecologists, arborists ` give their reports. Council have independently assessed and then granted the consents. And interestingly, we had the Tree Council and Forest & Bird, who are quite aware of what's going on, give their 100% support. The restoration programme aims to plant 75,000 native trees, and last week, the plan was to start felling 345 exotic trees on Mt Albert. The news came as a surprise to some locals who say there wasn't enough consultation. In 2016, there was notified consultation and then a series of meetings. They would say that they've consulted. Well, I, for one, didn't` Did you go to any of them? I, for one, did not hear of it. I went to council meeting after council meeting and did not hear about it. I don't know if you know how council works, but there are different committees with agendas and follow-up meetings, and on and on it goes. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm just an ordinary person who works. I don't have the time or necessarily the connection with that particular issue until ` bang ` it's in my face. So, yeah, they're gonna have to do a lot better of a job. I mean, talk to the iwi. Were the 13 iwi who come under this construct ` were they totally consulted? Did they know exactly what was going to happen? Have they all signed off on it? Do you have the support of all mana whenua? Do you have the support of the 13 mana whenua in the Tupuna Maunga Authority? At the governance table that have representatives from each of the ropu of Te Wai-O-Hua, Ngati Whatua and Marutuahu are fully in support. Those decisions have also been consensus, unanimous decisions by the authority, and that also involves representatives from Auckland Council, both from the governing body and the local boards. All the feedback that I've had from mana whenua is very much in support. There are different views expressed about what they think's going on, but as far as we're aware, we do have full support. The Tupuna Maunga Authority has the ability to make decisions for these maunga. The consultation's already been done. Why would iwi then talk to this group? The settlement is not serving... everyone who now is here in Aotearoa. And we need to make some adjustments. And some of these adjustments ` in my opinion and in the opinion of many others who are here ` is that... just because you do not like exotic trees, does not give you the right to steal from the native birds, insects, lizards, perhaps even bats, their food source, their shelter, destroy their nests. But when they make a decision as an iwi and they support the Maunga Authority, shouldn't that just be decision made? No, because we share this planet. And when that decision was made, Auckland Council had not declared a climate emergency. We share this planet, and it is important that we debate very carefully, right up until the last moment ` what is the justification, the truth and the correctness of this action? But you're not mana whenua. What makes you say I'm not mana whenua? Well, are you mana whenua? I came here in a waka like everyone else. I grew up in the bush. I grew up understanding when the kauri spoke what it was saying. I learnt as a child the very nature of how our country functioned, and I would like to see that... occur again. What about the rights of the native people? Well, the rights of the native people can be honoured, but only in honouring the nature that they are the guardians of. You say you feel like mana whenua? I do, and I don't` I'm not embarrassed to say it, because I will not live a life of guilt. You know? I was not here 100, 200 or 500 years ago ` that I know of ` on this land. But when I arrived, like all immigrants, I had a choice ` to either enforce my will upon this land or to live within this land's... reality. And remember, this is a fantastic game of white man. 'My law is this law. Oh, but you didn't know about that law. But this law trumps that law.' Now, we also have, uh, the... Isn't that what you're doing, though, Lisa? You're trying to trump your law on somebody else's law? No. Because the authority of this maunga belongs to iwi. Yes, but they are not above the laws` But you're here occupying their land. Absolutely ` for a just cause and to open debate. So if it's a just cause, it's OK? I think always. As a Jewish person, you know,... no one stood up when they were being marched to the concentration camp. I mean, I'm sorry to have to say this, but that's why when I see an injustice, I will step up, and I will stand. Do you accept Pakeha can be mana whenua as well as Maori? As we know in tikanga Maori, to be a kaitiaki requires a certain number of things, one of which is the tie to the land and being mana whenua. When it comes to kaitiaki, I've heard mana whenua say this many times. Only mana whenua, in the Maori worldview, can be kaitiaki. That's not to say, of course, that there isn't a lot of love and respect and care exercised by all Aucklanders for these iconic taonga. The compromise is to sit down and discuss the concerns and find a plan that protects the mature trees and the wildlife that exists within them. Where does this all end? I'm not sure where it stops, but one thing that's been very clear within the Authority and the folk that work for us is that health and safety is important. People's safety is important. We don't want to be in situations where there's an escalation. But at some point, we're going to need to obtain access to this tupuna maunga that we've been tasked and given the responsibility of care for in the way that's been worked through, and hopefully that can be done in a very peaceful way. E koekoe te tui, e ketekete te kaka, e kuku te kereru. (BLUESY KEYBOARD MUSIC) Kia mau tonu mai rai te titiro hei muri i nga whakatairanga ka matapaki hia nga take torangapu o te wa. Before the break, we looked at the row over the felling of exotic trees at Owairaka as part of a regeneration programme by the Tupuna Maunga Authority. So to discuss this and some of the bigger issues of the week, I'm joined now by lawyer Kingi Snelgar and academic Emmy Rakete. Tena korua. Kia ora. Kia ora. So, just reflecting back on that first story there, we saw, um, the Tupuna Maunga Authority ` they've got Forest & Bird, they've got the Tree Council. And of those 345 exotic trees, a large number of those trees are actually pest trees, like privets and eucalyptus and things like that. I guess, what's the issue here? Well, I mean, obviously this isn't a huge problem. Birds have wings, so I think everything's probably gonna work out fine in the end. But I think what is shows is this total inability for a segment of the middle class to make peace with the fact that Maori are going to be exercising tino rangatiratanga sometimes in this country. If we can't work together to deal with something like pest trees growing out of control on a hill, then how are we going to deal with these bigger problems? That's what troubles me about this. You've been quite vocal about this this week, and I think you'd planned a protest. What was behind that, and what did you want to achieve with that? Just to draw attention to the underlying issue, which I think is racism. You know, the gatherers there have said it's about the trees, but drawing an analogy to the Springbok tour, where people said that was about rugby, it's actually not about that. It's about mana motuhake. It's about Maori regaining mana in the face of years of colonisation. So what I'd planned was a haka as a way to respond to the Pakeha gatherers. You know, we were able to haka for Standing Rock; I thought that a haka for Owairaka was a good idea. And what happened? Well, I planned it. I had some feedback from some people that there were police involved, and they were concerned about intimidation. So I tabled that idea and left it on hold. And I know that there might be some consultation in the future, and I think that the Tupuna Maunga Authority have been very gracious with the protesters there. If we think about what happened at Ihumatao and the amount of police that were there versus Owairaka, which are mainly older Pakeha people, there hasn't been the same level of police involvement. Emmy, you've been on the front line a few times in the past. I guess, what are your thoughts about what happens next? As you heard Paul Majurey from the Tupuna Maunga Authority said, at some stage, they're gonna have to get on with the mahi. They wanna` They wanna plant 75,000 native trees over the 14 tihi of Tamaki Makaurau, with lofty dreams of actually bringing the kiwi back in 30 years in Maungakiekie. I guess, where to` how much patience do you think they should have, and what do you think it might look like when they go in? Yeah, well, I mean, the police in this country have infinite patience for issues that don't threaten the interests of rich people in this country. And this doesn't really threaten the interests of rich people, so the police are really probably gonna hang around and wait till the people who are sitting out on this hill lose interest in that. There's probably not gonna be a raid in the way that there were constant raids at Ihumatao. There's probably never gonna be a barricade line. They're probably not gonna be, you know, relitigating Les Miserables up there. I think they'll lose interest and go home at some point, because, um, despite how much they're sticking on it right now, it's trees. Mm. Coming back to Ihumatao, there was a decision` or there was an announcement this week that the government's looking at funding the buyback of Ihumatao. What do you think about the decision? Surprising, um, given that we have the highest number of Maori MPs in Parliament ever, I think, that they haven't actually negotiated returning the whenua to mana whenua. And now that we have Grant Robertson as the spokesperson, it's confusing to me. Obviously, they're worried about what the impact returning the whenua would be on Treaty issues and on their election next year. But this is about justice and doing the right thing, and the right thing is returning the whenua. So, yeah, I'm concerned about what will happen if it is returned to the Council. What about you, Emmy? What are you hearing from your peeps? Yeah, I think it shows a fundamental contradiction, right? This land was straight-up stolen during the ethnic cleansing of Auckland ` super stolen. Like, if you or I got a stolen car, we'd get in major trouble over it. But the state has spent so long shirking its responsibilities over Ihumatao. I think that it'd be really good if it was bought back, but the fact that mana whenua have actually been totally locked out of the negotiation process over this... And the kingitanga. And the kingitanga. No one` Like, no Maori people have been involved in this decision-making. It's kind of a continuation of the same patronising colonial order that ended us up in the Land Court. Maybe the Land Court was gonna hand down a good decision for us this time, but it certainly doesn't show a trend towards less racist ways of making decisions about land in this country. Is it a concern, you know, looking at the election next year and the fact that we do, as you say, have a lot of Maori MPs with ministerial positions, and they're so silent over one of the biggest issues that have hit us this year? Absolutely. I would be worried if I was one of the Maori Labour MPs. I think that there's a great opportunity for the Maori Party to come back. If you look at... There was some visits early on, but pretty much it's been silent, and Jacinda Ardern has been shirking her responsibility and all those promises she made to the Maori world. So, um, I would be worried. I think the Maori Party has a great opportunity. There has been an announcement this week in the Corrections or the justice portfolio from Kelvin Davis. They've decided to, um... to change the way that Corrections officers speak with prisoners. I think they were going to be called 'men in care', and they're going to address people by their first names, particularly at Tongariro. What are your thoughts around this? This is your area. Yeah. So, People Against Prisons Aotearoa, the organisation that I'm part of, we work with people who are in prison. And when people are coming to us about the problems that they have, it's that they've been stripped out of their communities, away from their families, and put in a barren, uninsulated, concrete shed halfway across the country from anyone who knows them and cares about them. You cannot recover in those conditions and become a better person. None of them write to us saying, 'The main problem in my life is that I'm referred to by my surname 'and that I'm being called a prisoner and not a "man in care".' This is, like, semantic quibbling, right, which the state is very very good at doing. They do the same kind of semantic quibbling around solitary confinement, where we call it the 'intensive supervision unit' so it's not solitary confinement. It's semantics. It doesn't actually change people's lives or improve them in any way. What do you think? Topia Rameka says it's a good start. Small change, but window-dressing, really. If you look at the prison impact on te ao Maori, it's massive, and changing names isn't gonna change that problem. Drug courts, more diversion away from prisons and not using prisons as a normal thing but as something that should be abolished in the near future. We have examples in Scandinavia about systems that do work, so, um, yeah. It's a small step, but again, we have the largest number of Maori MPs. And I know Kelvin Davis has made some good announcements, but for me, it's moving too slowly. Ka pai. Emmy Rakete, Kingi Snelgar, tena korua. Kia ora. After the break, we meet the siblings carving up the stage at the World of Wearable Arts. Auraki mai ano. Siblings Rawiri and Tarikura Kapea are not only best friends; they're also the driving force behind each other's artistic ambitions. The Poneke-based kohanga graduates have made a name for themselves modelling at the World of Wearable Arts. But as Ruwani Perera found out, their talents extend far beyond the stage. Anei tana purongo. RUWANI PERERA: It's almost showtime at New Zealand's most innovative fashion event, and model Tarikura Kapea is having the finishing touches before hitting the stage at the 31st World of Wearable Arts awards in Wellington. When people ask about the show, I say it's a really interesting combination between fashion, art, circus, theatre and dance. During the eight years she's been with the prestigious annual event, Tarikura has had the chance to wear creations from the wacky to the wondrous. This fashion show is not your typical catwalk gig. I have worn some outrageous things over the years, yeah. One year I wore, um... It was the bizarre bra year, and I wore two taxidermied hedgehogs as a bra. (LAUGHS) What I find really intriguing is the storytelling aspect. So, I kind of identify as a storyteller and have since I was a kid. That's what keeps bringing me back, actually. Yeah. It's been a big year for 27-year-old Tarikura. The graduate of stage and screen arts got her first big acting break recently in Three's mini-series 'Jonah'. Looking good out there. You reckon? Yeah. Back to your old form. She's a born performer on stage, but she does it with so much care for the designers. So, she's an amazing mover. World of Wearable Arts wardrobe manager Leonie Trathen says Tarikura has a powerful presence onstage. You've got to embody the garment, take on board all the inspiration that the designer has done, really get the feeling of that garment, and she does that so well. She's so passionate about every garment she wears, and it shows. Some of the designers work on these garments for years, or months, and they put their whole heart into it, so you feel a real sense of duty to the designers, cos it's their babies, and it can really launch their careers, so, yeah, it's a really big deal for them. It's such a great gig, Tarikura encouraged her sports-mad younger brother Rawiri to audition too. This is about as far from a rugby field as you can get, right? (LAUGHS) Yeah, I would say it's about the polar opposite, yeah. Yeah, sports is definitely my longest-standing passion. When I was young, that's all I did. Eight hours a day, every single day, I'd be playing sports. The 24-year-old was most at home playing basketball, cricket and rugby, but they were all sidelined once his creative talents kicked in. Growing up in kohanga and kura and stuff, kapa haka is always there, and so as a young one, I probably wouldn't have considered myself artistic at all. But then once I did start getting into music, it was like, 'Oh, that foundation is already there.' Guitar is probably what I started with, kind of around 15, 16. Picked up a guitar and started playing away. Started piano a couple of years back as well. # That's why I'm easy. # Ah, ah, ah, ah. # I'm easy like Sunday morning. # Ah, ah, ah, ah. Music is in their genes, and the pair credit their parents for encouraging them to give anything a go. It was lots of shows, lots of dancing, lots of music. And of course, both of them are kohanga kids as well so that you get the culture club group coming through. So there's always a lot of singing, and... performance is,... I think, a lot more encouraged in that environment, which, for Maori, we take for granted. In 2015, the Kapea kids got to treat their whanau to a special performance, appearing side-by-side in these Shakespearean-inspired ensembles. It was really special. It was called 'Oh Shakespeare'. And, of course, our whanau comes every single year. We probably had about 30 people supporting us that year. (LAUGHS) So it was a really cool and really special time, yeah. Yeah, before every show, we'd always give each other a big hug and a big high five and, yeah, go out there and do our thing. The Aotearoa section is a highlight of the show, where designers create garments that celebrate our culture and history. And it's where the Kapea siblings shine the brightest. I've had some really beautiful moments during the show. I've done poi on stage. I've done taiaha. I've done waiata. So I feel really honoured and really privileged to be Maori and in the show, because I feel like Maori have so much to offer in the creative space. We are naturally gifted in movement and song, and again, storytelling is part of our history. It's everything that we know. And Tarikura's talents don't end there. She's also a trained yoga teacher,... OK, we're gonna start by bringing our hands up towards the sky. ...something the World of Wearable Arts has embraced as part of the warm-up routine before every show. ALL: Tihei mauri ora. Tu tu whakamaua kia tina. Tina. Yeah, we think it's always really important to whakanoa, to bring everybody together, to ground together, to kind of feel in unison so when we are out onstage, we can kind of feel each other's energies and each other's presence. Any pre-show nerves? Yeah, especially having Mum and Dad in the crowd tonight. That's a big one. Definitely a lot more going on thanks to that. That's a good thing. I like the nerves ` yeah, makes me sure that I care. (MUSIC PLAYS IN THEATRE) And they certainly didn't disappoint their dad, Toko, who can spot them no matter how quirky the costume they're wearing. Sometimes they've got a mask, but you can also tell just by the way they walk and hold themselves. You go, 'Oh, that's one of mine.' (INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYS) With the show's three-week run finished, they've already mapped out their next move. Tarikura is heading off to Thailand for the last stage of becoming a fully qualified yoga teacher, and Rawiri has a one-way ticket booked to travel around South America. It's funny, cos we've been separated before. But it is interesting, yeah. For the last two months, we've worked together and lived together, so, yeah, there's been a lot of time spent where it's just us two rolling against the world. Ready to take on the world, but they both say their success started at home. How much do you credit your whanau in getting to where you are today? Yeah, everything. Yeah, we can't really preach that enough, eh? Mm. They've been incredible parents in the sense that they've just let us do what we wanna do. Whatever we choose to do, they're just there, ready to tautoko, so it's nice. Miharo. Na Ruwani Perera tera purongo. Hei tera wiki... Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana was one of the most enigmatic leaders of the 20th century, building a thriving community deep in the heart of Te Urewera at Maungapohatu. There was no one else they needed to really rely on in terms of how that was governed and how it was managed. So it was an example for all the other tribes to use and follow. But this was destroyed in a bloody police invasion which devastated Rua and his devoted followers. Only two people died, but it was like a whole community died. More than 100 years later, his whanau will finally receive an apology from the Crown to right the injustices of the past. The descendants of Rua Kenana... have suffered ongoing hurt, shame,... (SOBS) stigma. In our season finale, Rua's direct descendant, reporter John Boynton, takes a personal journey back into his past to see what lies ahead for his people. This is a journey into Tuhoe's past, redefining its history and restoring the mana of the prophet Rua Kenana, my great great grandfather. (SOMBRE MUSIC) Ko hikina Te Hui mo tenei ra. Pai marire ki a tatou katoa. Captions by Able. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 ALL: He mea tautoko na Te Mangai Paho. The Hui is made with support from NZ On Air.