NZCPR Newsletter: Tribal Defiance

In the early hours of Thursday 30 October 2025, members of the northern Ngatiwai tribe gathered at the Tutukaka marina for a 22 km boat trip to the Poor Knights Islands.

Ngatiwai is a multi-million-dollar tribal business conglomerate with 8,000 members. Registered as a charity, it pays no tax. Its income is derived largely from fisheries settlements, equity holdings, managed funds, Government contracts, commercial property, and consultation fees. As of 2024, it has an asset base of over $21.3 million and a property portfolio that includes the Oceans Resort Hotel in Tutukaka, the Bland Bay campground, and the Westpac and Warehouse buildings in downtown Whangarei.

Their destination that morning, the Poor Knights Islands constitute the eroded remnants of a 4-million-year-old volcano estimated to have been 1,000 metres tall and 25 kilometres wide.

Home to one of the largest sea caves on Earth, the underwater structures and nutrient-rich ocean currents rank it amongst the world’s top diving destinations.

Along with the unique flora and fauna found on the islands, the Poor Knights is one of New Zealand’s most highly prized ecological areas.

The Marine Reserves Act 1971, which bans all fishing within 800 metres of the shore, safeguards the marine life.

And the Reserves Act 1977, provides the rare native plants and animals the highest level of natural habitat protection available in New Zealand.

Managed by the Department of Conservation, access to the Poor Knights is highly restricted to protect the unique ecosystem. The main islands of Tawhiti Rahi and Aorangi are not only home to the endangered tuatara, but they are the sole breeding grounds for the world’s population of Buller’s Shearwater.

This migratory seabird, which has a territory that ranges across the Pacific Ocean and up to the Arctic Circle, returns to the Poor Knights in September to breed. A single egg is laid in burrows that can be up to 3 metres long. Hatching after 7 weeks, the “mutton bird” chicks – long considered a delicacy by Ngatiwai – are ready to leave the nest after 14 weeks as they prepare to migrate northwards to Japan.

Ngatiwai’s trip to the Poor Knights was undertaken in their “waka hourua”. While this translates as a double-hulled canoe evoking images of carved wooden logs, flax lashings, woven sails, and paddles, in reality, the Hinemoana II is a 61-foot, 8 tonne fibreglass vessel with engines and fabric sails.

According to the Ngatiwai Chairman Aperahama Kepeti-Edwards, their actions that day – landing on the islands without authorisation, and desecrating the natural landscape by erecting a flagpole and cementing in a carved wooden post – were designed as a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the Crown:

“As a direct act of protest, Ngatiwai have travelled to Poor Knights Islands aboard our waka hourua to raise our flags and erect a pou whenua – a deliberate assertion of our rangatiratanga and enduring ancestral connection. This action will be taken despite strict legal prohibitions under current conservation and marine reserve regulations, which restrict our access to these islands even as mana whenua and mana moana. By doing so, we declare that Ngātiwai – not the Crown – holds the rightful authority over these taonga. Our message to the Crown is clear: further attempts to undermine our rights will be met with resistance.”

While Ngatiwai’s deliberate acts of defiance and rebellion have broken multiple laws, to date there has been no public response from the Department of Conservation, the Police, nor the Coalition.

Firstly, they anchored their boat and landed protesters and gear on the island.

They went walkabout to find a suitable spot to erect a flagpole and fly their flag – as a claim of territory and sovereignty – all recorded on drone footage for their Facebook page.

A suitable site for their carved post needed to be located, so it could be seen from the sea as an on-going symbol of their claim. Foundations were then dug, concrete mixed and poured, and the posted cemented in.  

Since landing on the islands is strictly prohibited unless a permit has been granted – which is usually limited to scientific purposes – iwi members were fully aware their unauthorised actions created an ecological risk. In fact, they claimed to have followed ‘strict biosecurity protocols’ – but they would say that, wouldn’t they!

The reality is that through their actions that day, they breached the Marine Reserves Act 1971 and the Reserves Act 1977 by landing – without permission – and disturbing the natural environment.

In particular, under the Reserves Act 1977, trespassing and erecting structures subjects them to a maximum penalty for individuals of two years jail and a fine of up to $100,000 – or $200,000 for a company.

The Act also states in section 102A(3) (c) “in any case, where the offence is a continuing one, a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day on which the offence continues.”

While the flagpole and flag were removed after photos were taken, since the carved post remains, $10,000 a day in penalties should be accruing.

Ngatiwai’s actions that day were unacceptable. Their breach of the law was a deliberate criminal act, which put in danger one of New Zealand’s most iconic reserves. They should be prosecuted with the maximum penalties imposed as a deterrent to others considering similar action.

The Department of Conservation, the Minister, and the Police need to publicly explain what they intend to do about Ngatiwai’s law breaking. Or is Minister Tama Potaka planning on turning a blind eye because the offenders are Maori?  

Ngatiwai claimed their action was part of a protest against the tightening up of the Marine and Coastal Area Act. This reform was necessary to prevent activist judges from reinterpreting the law to deliver control of New Zealand’s entire coastline to Maori — rather than limiting recognition to remote areas, as originally intended by Parliament.

With the Poor Knights one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist spots, and one of the country’s most protected areas, Ngatiwai can hardly claim they have ‘exclusively used and occupied the area without substantial interruption since 1840’, which they would need to do to succeed in their Customary Marine Title claim.

In fact, their application to the High Court that was lodged in 2017, reveals the customary rights they would like to gain if they win their case. These include:

a. Fishing, utilising nets, and hand-lines to catch various species including groper, kingfish, kahawai, mullet, shrimp, rock lobster, eels, butterfish, mako, red moki, flounder, rock cod, shark, snapper, tuna, octopus, and starfish;

b. Harvesting shellfish including kina, mussels, paua, pipi, catseye, crabs, seasnail, scallops, toheroa, cockles, tuatua, and rock oysters;

c. Accessing and caring for stranded marine mammals, and obtaining bone from deceased marine mammals;

d. Activities related to spiritual practices such as wahi tapu, and imposing rahui;

e. Planting, cultivating and gathering plant species;

f. Gathering edible and aquatic plants, including seaweeds;

g. Gathering and extracting minerals, including Onerahi chert and accessing other minerals on our offshore islands, particularly obsidian;

h. Snaring and egg-gathering for birds including but not limited to manu oi (mutton bird), skua, wood pigeon, kaka and little blue penguin;

i. Collecting driftwood and other natural resources;

j. Utilising temporary campsites for seasonal harvesting and ceremonial activities.

It is clear from their application that, should they gain a Customary Marine Title over the Poor Knights Islands, conservation values would be trashed.

A related affidavit, which expands on their application and highlights not only their opposition to Crown protection within ecologically significant areas, but also their specific desire for mutton birds, indicates that Buller’s Shearwater are likely to be a primary target, should Ngatiwai gain control of the Poor Knights.

Whether their October trip was designed to scope out the size of their potential harvest of mutton bird chicks, should they succeed in gaining title, is not known.

Ngatiwai claim, of course, that they are better conservators than the Crown.

But anyone foolish enough to accept this should be reminded of the devastation that has befallen one of the world’s most highly rated ecological areas – the Urewera National Park – once Tuhoe, who used the same argument, was given control of the area by John Key’s National Government in 2014, under advice from Chris Finlayson.

Ngatwai’s ambition to harvest shearwater chicks ties in with work carried out by the Options Development Group. This independent body of 15 members – 8 selected by iwi leaders, with 4 from Conservation Boards, and 3 Department of Conservation staff – which was appointed under Jacinda Ardern’s administration, recommended the cultural harvesting of native birds.

While their proposal to revoke Crown ownership of New Zealand’s protected wildlife and introduce tribal harvesting of native species hasn’t yet been adopted, their suggestions for greater involvement of activist Maori in conservation decision-making is undoubtedly influencing the Coalition’s current Conservation reforms.

Rather than greater involvement of Maori in conservation, the Coalition should be restoring equal rights by revoking all cultural harvesting, including of marine life.  

Ngatiwai’s unauthorised visit to the Poor Knights was part of a broader protest against the Coalition’s commitment to one law for all.

It is important to recognise that the modern interpretation of the Treaty, Te Tiriti, has been weaponised – without any public mandate whatsoever – to deliver tribal rule.

That means the only way to restore equal rights in this country is to legislate for the complete removal of race and culture from legislation. Unless that is done, it is likely this type of rebellion will escalate as more Kiwis become influenced by the propaganda of the tribal elite.

This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator is the fearless researcher and writer John Robinson, who, in a series of articles, outlines the situation we now face:

“New Zealand is no longer one people but divided into two separate races.  The full project of apartheid with separation of governments, rights, and laws has been set down in the He Puapua report. The control of media and public information is so complete that the project has been successfully hushed up, and most people remain unaware of the proposal for a dominant tribal way of life with many race-based centres of power scattered across the country to replace one unified nation.

“Support for that division has been provided by serious distortions in stories of the past, a rewriting of history, and the production of misleading accounts from controlled research – together feeding feelings of grievance among Maori and of guilt among non-Maori…

“Two important examples of the subsequent false narratives are provided: ‘Maori nineteenth century population: model estimates’ and ‘Pre-contact Maori population and date of first arrival’.

“The first paper deals with the erroneous claim that population loss during the murderous tribal musket wars was insignificant. The picture is of harm done by colonisation to a successful culture.

“The second paper corrects the insistence that Maori were the first settlers, which is the basis of the claim that they are the indigenous people and thus qualify for the international support promised by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.”

Dr Robinson’s papers are designed to help correct false narratives that risk becoming accepted wisdom.

That’s also what Sir Apirana Ngata’s 1922 explanation of the Maori version of Treaty of Waitangi does when it reminds us that at the time of the signing of the Treaty when tribal leaders ceded sovereignty to the Crown, New Zealand was in a state of turmoil, with “lawlessness”, “cannibalism”, and “illiteracy” the norm – the opposite of the sanitised version disseminated by separatists.

The reality is that self-serving Maori leaders are continuing to move the country inexorably towards tribal rule , in spite of the Coalition’s commitment to stop them.

Without strong intervention, to remove the framework of race and culture upon which their power base is built, if Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party win the next election, their path to full tribal control will be there for the taking. 

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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:

*Should Ngatiwai be prosecuted for their illegal visit to the Poor Knight Islands?

Dr Muriel Newman established the New Zealand Centre for Political Research as a public policy think tank in 2005 after nine years as a Member of Parliament. The NZCPR website is HERE. We also run this Breaking Views Blog and our NZCPR Facebook Group HERE.