Josephine | Mt Roskill
“My name is Josephine, and I live in Mt Roskill. Share a meal with? Josephine Nathan, from back in Poutȱ, in the Kaipara Harbour.
So, this is where I’m from. I’m from the Kaipara Harbour, and there are a few things out in the Kaipara Harbour that need to be attended to. My tīpuna back in days, they were the caregivers of the Kaipara Harbour. They were what we call the kaitiaki in Māori, and my grandparents and they used to look after the area. As time went on, we went through a claim, that has taken over the Kaipara. Now there was signing down in the Government of the taking of the sand that is the tangata whenua’s, and well, they’ve been taking the sand since 2005. Everything was beautiful back then. Now, we face erosion, and soon we’ll have depletion of our kaimoana. We’ve got 30 per cent depletion of our snapper stock. Our mussels and our pipis and our tuatuas and our toheroa, because they’re taking the sand. Well, now we are coming to mud. So, the erosion from the land is now coming down into the sea, and it’s going into the Kaipara and is killing the breeding block of our Kaipara Harbour. I believe that Te Uri O Hau Settlement Trust is the cause of such devastation.
Also turbines, they want to put turbines throughout our whenua, in the water where we put our fish, where the fish come and breed. All species of fish come, and they breed in the Kaipara Harbour, and then they leave, and then they go on their way. The Kaipara Harbour, to me, is the most beautiful harbour, and it’s the largest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere. So, now they want to put turbines in there. The turbines are 200 tonne. The whenua’s crying, and that’s all to do with the Government signing papers. Doing these things to our people, and putting down entrapment, our mokopuna have nothing. Our manuhiri that come to visit New Zealand have nothing. We are now a multicultural society here in Auckland. I see many races here in Auckland. I see many beautiful people here in Auckland, and it’s a shame that they live in matchboxes, that they are building today, and taking the whenua, so that they can accommodate them. Our great-great-grandchildren will never ever see the beauty of the whenua, because they are now being cemented and being replaced with buildings to accommodate those that are arriving here in New Zealand. I am in a community of many races, and they are beautiful races, and they come from beautiful countries. I understand why they came here, and why they settled here, because of their home background, and they feel that New Zealand is the safest, and most beautiful place here in the world.
But now they’re going to be bringing into our country, something called the dome. The Chinese have paid over a billion dollars for a contract on the dome. In the dome, they are going to build a waste management plant. This waste-management plant is going to be taking rubbish from all around the country, and eventually all around the world. Why? It’s because they have nowhere to put their fluids. So, they wish to dispose of their fluids in our rivers, and our rivers go out to the Kaipara Harbour. It affects us, because they are killing off our life source. To me, they should spend another billion dollars, so that the fluids or whatever they wish to dispose of, do not go above us, do not go under us, and do not go beside us, so that our grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, and children, and children to come, can breathe clean, fresh air. Our children go to work hard out in those industrial areas, to make this money that comes from the tree, that Ihowā feeds. When he rains, he’s feeding the planet, and that comes from Tāwhirimātea. Our kai comes from the sea, Tangaroa. All the water, that’s where it comes from, and it’s provided for the humans, for us as a human race, and then what they’re doing now is that they’re bottling our water that God has given us, and they’re selling it. Why? It’s because our children, our great-grandchildren and our children again, will not have the water that God has given us. Why should pay for what God has given us? Our water. That’s our survival. He fills our waters, our rivers. He fills our water tanks. When He rains, He’s feeding the planet, and that comes from Tāwhirimātea. Our kai comes from the sea, Tangaroa. Our whenua is Rangi, is Papatūānuku. She provides us food and space where we plant our food, it preserves us. Now, they put our foods in cans, and we cannot teach our children how to grow food so that they can survive in today’s life. Thank you.”
