Source: New Zealand Government
The Government will provide a $5.8 million grant to improve water infrastructure at Parihaka in Taranaki, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka say.
“This grant from the Regional Infrastructure Fund will have a multitude of benefits for this hugely significant cultural site, including keeping local waterways clean and enabling new housing,” Mr Jones says.
The Parihaka papakāinga, a village on ancestral Māori land, is located on the rural coast of Taranaki and is home to three marae and about 30 dwellings.
A modern wastewater system will be installed at Parihaka to collect, treat and disperse waste water from existing and future dwellings. Septic tanks at the end of their life will be removed and the land remediated, freeing it up for future papakāinga housing – up to another 100 homes. The new system will also reduce the risk of contamination of waterways during floods.
The $7.3m project has $1.5m co-funding from the Parihaka Papakāinga Trust.
Mr Jones says the project qualifies under the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) because the rural water assets are community-owned and not on the local authority’s water network.
“Due to its Māori land classification, the site is non-rated and therefore doesn’t receive infrastructure investment and services provided elsewhere by local government. This Coalition Government is focused on accelerating infrastructure projects, particularly in communities that cannot access funding through other means.”
The work will start immediately as part of the Parihaka Papakāinga Trust’s infrastructure upgrade programme already underway.
The programme aims to provide a secure supply of drinking water, stormwater infrastructure, lighting, roading, firefighting capacity and other important infrastructure.
The wider infrastructure work programme is funded by the trust through a combination of its own development money and additional fundraising from the Toi and Tindall Foundations, and an earlier $14 million Provincial Growth Fund grant.
“While an ambitious visitors’ centre was originally planned for the grant funding, escalating costs and the urgent need to install basic infrastructure at Parihaka took precedence,” Mr Jones says.
Mr Potaka says investing in Parihaka with the trust protects ancestral Māori land that is significant to all New Zealanders.
“Parihaka was established by the prophets Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai as a place of peace and shelter during the New Zealand Land Wars.
“Led by Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, the people used peaceful opposition to challenge the validity of land thefts and forced sales by the settler government, as well as to a violent occupation by Crown troops in 1881.
“Parihaka has become known for its residents’ actions of passive resistance to land theft by the Crown, and their peaceful response.
“The Parihaka community continue to follow the peaceful teachings of Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai and there is a collective effort to ensure an enduring resilience – spiritual, physical, cultural and economic – for the community,” Mr Potaka says.
“The Crown’s Accord with Parihaka states our commitment to supporting the trust’s development plan.”
The Parihaka project also utilises Taranaki’s new Māori trade consortium Ngā Waka Whiria, which aims to give smaller businesses the opportunity to participate in large construction contracts. The Parihaka project is the first opportunity to work with this new consortium.
Kamaka ki Parihaka, ka whai pūtea
Ka whakarite te Kawanatanga i te takuhe $5.8 miriona hei whakapai ake i te hanganga ki Parihaka i Taranaki te pānui a te Minita Whanaketanga ā-Rohe Shane Jones rāua ko te Minita Whanaketanga Māori Tama Potaka.
“Mā tēnei takuhe mai i te Tahua Whanaketanga ā-Rohe e whai ai tēnei pae tino rangatira ā-ahurea i te tini o ngā hua, tae atu ki ngā mahi whakapai i ngā rerewai ā-rohe kia mā, ka mutu, e āhei ai hoki te hanganga o ngā whare hou,” te kī a Minita Jones.
Kei te takutai ā-rohe o Taranaki te papakāinga o Parihaka, he kāinga kei runga i te whenua tipuna Māori, ā, he kāinga tēnei mō ngā marae e toru me ngā whare 30.
Ka hangaia he pūnaha wai paruparu hou ki Parihaka ki te kohikohi, te whakapai, me te whakaputa i ngā wai paruparu atu i ngā whare o ināianei me ngā whare hou hei ngā tau e tū mai nei. Ka tangohia ngā kura paru tawhito, ā, ka whakatikaina te whenua kia wātea mai ai mō ngā whare papakāinga hei ngā rā e tū mai nei – atu ki te 100 kāinga anō. Mā te pūnaha hou e whakaiti te mōrea o te tāhawahawa o ngā rerewai i ngā parawhenua.
Kua whiwhi te kaupapa i te pūtea-ngātahi o te $1.5 miriona nā te Parihaka Papakāinga Trust mō te kaupapa $7.3 miriona.
E kī ana a Minita Jones kua uru mai te kaupapa i raro i te Tahua Hanganga ā-Rohe (RIF) nā te mea nā te hapori ngā rawa wai o tō rātou rohe, kāore kē rātou i runga i te pūnaha wai o te mana ā-rohe.
“Nā runga i tana whakarōpūtanga hei whenua Māori, kāore he rēti o te pae, nō reira, kāore te pae i te whiwhi i te pūtea me ngā ratonga whakapai hanganga i te kāwanatanga ā-rohe. Ko te aronga o tēnei Kāwanatanga Whakakotahitanga he whakatere i te haere o ngā kaupapa hanganga, ina koa i ngā hapori kāore kau he pūtea tautoko i tua atu.”
Ka tīmata inamata ngā mahi hei wāhanga o te kaupapa whakahoutanga hanganga o te Parihaka Papakāinga Trust e haere kē ana.
Ko te whāinga o te kaupapa ko te whakarite i te puna haumaru wai inu, hanganga wai marangai, ngā rama, ngā huarahi, te āhei ki te patu ahi, me te nui anō o ngā mahi whakapai hanganga whakahirahira.
E whai pūtea ana ngā mahi hanganga whānui ake i te tarahiti nā roto i te kōwhiringa o tāna ake pūtea whakawhanake me ngā kohikohinga pūtea mai i ngā Tūāpapa Toi, Tindall hoki, tae atu ki tētahi takuhe o te $14 miriona o mua atu i te takuhe Te Tahua Whakatipu Porowini.
“Ahakoa i whakaritea tuatahitia te pūtea takuhe mō tētahi pokapū manuhiri hao nui, nā te whakapikinga o ngā utu me te mate nui ki te whakauru i te hanganga taketake ki Parihaka kei mua kē ko te whakatikatika o te hanganga,” te kī a Minita Jones.
I kī ai a Minita Potaka mā te whakapaunga o te pūtea ki Parihaka me te tarahiti e whakamarumaru i te whenua Māori nui whakaharahara ki te katoa o Ngāi Aotearoa.
“I whakatūria ai a Parihaka e ngā poropiti Tohu Kākahi rāua ko Te Whiti o Rongomai hei whenua taurikura, hei mōwai āhuru i te wā o ngā Pakanga Whenua o Aotearoa.
“I aratakina e Tohu Kākahi rāua ko Te Whiti o Rongomai, ko te rongomau, ko te houkura te ara tohetohe i whakamahia ai e te iwi hei whakapātari i te whaimana o ngā whānakotanga whenua me te hokohoko o te whenua i raro i ngā whakatumatuma o te kāwanatanga tangata whai, tae atu ki te whakatāuteute pākaha o te ope Karauna i te tau 1881.
“Kua rongonui a Parihaka mō ngā mahi tohetohe o ōna tāngata i runga i te rangimārie i te whānakotanga o te whenua māori, me tō rātou urupare houkura.
“Kei te whai tonu te hapori o Parihaka i ngā akoranga rangimārie o Tohu Kākahi rāua ko Te Whiti o Rongomai, ka mutu, kua tīmata te mahinga tahitanga ki te mātua whakarite i te manahautanga taimau –ā-wairua, ā-tinana, ā-ahurea, ā-ōhanga – mā te hapori,” te kī a Minita Potaka.
“Kei te whakapuakina e Te Whakaritenga Karauna te manawanui o te Karauna ki te tautoko i te mahere whakawhanake a te tarahiti.”
E whakamahia ana hoki e te kaupapa Parihaka te ohu tauhokohoko Māori hou Ngā Waka Whiria, e whai ana ki te tuku arawātea ki ngā pakihi pakupaku kia whai wāhi mai ai rātou ki ngā kirimana hanganga nui. Ko te wā tuatahi tēnei kua mahitahi ai te kaupapa Parihaka me tēnei ohu hou.
