This page last modified 18 September 1998
Treaty of Waitangi & Maori claims
News
releases on Maori claims & Treaty of Waitangi
Justice and
Treaty Negotiations Minister Doug Graham has failed to respond
to this letter...
Public Access New Zealand Incorporated
November 5, 1996
Minister of Treaty Settlements
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Dear Mr Graham
As a Minister who places great store on restoring the Crown's
honour, I would like to know how you reconcile your scurrilous
attack on myself and Public Access New Zealand when contrary facts
of the matter are within your knowledge.
You were reported as saying on Radio New Zealand, on Monday 7
October 1996--
"Well I have to say, with great regret, that Mr Mason has no credibility whatever with me or with Ngai Tahu or as far as I'm concerned with anybody else. I don't even know who public access is apart from Mr Mason. He was the one who was saying not long ago, along with one or two others, that nobody would be able to climb Mt Cook again and that all the national parks were likely to be returned. Unfortunately, there are one or two of those people who raise fears deliberately, fan them, say they're terribly concerned whereas in actual fact there's not a skerrick of truth in any of it and it's a load of old garbage."
Also in the 'Otago Daily Times' on 11 October you were reported
as describing PANZ as 'a one-man band'.
Your claims that PANZ is a one-one band and that you don't know
who we are, are untrue. At the Non-Government Organisation (NGO)
meeting with you in Dunedin on 17 September both myself and Dave
Witherow introduced ourselves to you as representing PANZ. At
the Christchurch NGO meeting the following day I am informed that
Andy Denis introduced himself as representing PANZ. Your statement
about us is clearly wrong. If we were only 'a one-man band' why
would you invite us to meet you in Dunedin, and why did you accept
our invitation to address a well-attended public meeting in Dunedin
on 24 June 1994 about the Ngai Tahu settlement? Your previous
responses to our organisation clearly establish that we have more
than sufficient public following that politically you could not
ignore us. As further recognition of our standing, you recently
invited us, through Bryce Johnson of the NZ Fish & Game Council
acting as your agent, to be part of a working party on recreation
and conservation aspects of the Ngai Tahu settlement. Your attack
on us is scurrilous and completely unfounded. In my view it is
unbecoming of a Minister of Justice. I ask that you retract your
statements about us and apologise for them.
Further, it is a matter of record that I, and PANZ, have never
said "that nobody would be able to climb Mt Cook again and
that all the national parks were likely to be returned".
What we said in regard to climbing activity was in a press release
of 1 October, 1996 entitled -- "Climbing Mt Cook could be
banned under secret deals with Ngai Tahu". The directly relevant
part of this release states--
"As well as offering freehold title over important recreational areas like the Greenstone Valley there are other proposals that have potential to subvert the protective status of national parks. 'Topuni' are proposed over Mounts Cook, Aspiring, Earnslaw, and Tutoko. These would require DOC to manage these mountains so as not to 'harm or diminish' Ngai Tahu "cultural, spiritual, historical or traditional values". Clearly, as this is a requirement, such strictures would override the preservation and public access purposes of national parks, despite the denials by officials that this could be so.
"Some Ngai Tahu consider that climbing mountains is culturally offensive. This could lead to restrictions or bans on climbing activity despite freedom of use being a principal purpose of the parks. It could also lead to demands on DOC to remove mountain huts".
I have record of this release being faxed both to your office
and that of the Office of Treaty Settlements on the afternoon
of 1 October. I received confirmation that it was received by
OTS within 3 minutes of transmission, by Bryce Johnson relaying
the concern of your Chief Negotiator Mary Anne Thompson that "the
release had done a lot of harm". The release was not sent
to Mr Johnson. This is the only press release I have made about
the potential for climbing bans arising from 'Topuni'.
In regard to freeholding of national parks, we stated, jointly
with Federated Mountain Clubs, on 28 July 1996 in a release entitled--
"National Parks to be privatised by special legislation?"
[note question mark].
...the two organisations "have had reports that Government is about to introduce special National Development Act-style legislation to allow ownership of South Island national parks and high country Crown lands to pass from the Crown.
"Ngai Tahu have also stated that they want freehold title to national park and Crown land, which is prevented by current legislation. If this is part of the deal being struck then special legislation would be needed."
"We would like to be proved wrong, however Government's secretive approach to this issue gives credence to the belief that public ownership and control over national parks and other outstanding recreational areas is in jeopardy".
Your statements about our concerns are a misrepresentation.
You may believe that our concerns amount to scaremongering. You
are entitled to your beliefs, just as we are entitled to hold
and express doubts as to the reliability of your assurances that
our fears are unfounded. However this, in my view, does not entitle
you to misrepresent what we have stated publicly, as you have
done, as a platform for shamefully denigrating and impugning us.
Sir, you have abused us, in a manner unbefitting a Minister of
Justice. You owe, and we expect, an apology for the above transgressions.
Your Government's steadfast failure to uphold legally enforceable
arrangements, after almost four years of breached agreement with
Ngai Porou on Mt Hikurangi, only fuels our disbelief that similar
mechanisms in the Ngai Tahu settlement provide any assurance that
public access and conservation values will be protected. Your
repeated deflection and avoidance of the Hikurangi case, and the
use of conservation areas contrary to Government's own Treaty
settlement policy, cannot but cause distrust of Government's intentions
over the Ngai Tahu deal.
Yours sincerely
Bruce Mason
PANZ Researcher & Co-spokesman
cc Prime Minister
Leaders of Labour, Alliance, NZ First, ACT, United.