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Showing posts with label Iwi assessments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iwi assessments. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Elliot Ikilei: District plan means farmers will be extorted by the iwi mafia


Rural New Zealand is under siege from a planning system that is taking a leaf out of the Sopranos' book and turning productive farmland into a maze of red tape and mafia stand over tactics.

Farmers in Gore are staring down a new reality that before they dig a silage pit, build a shed, fix a farm track, or dozens of other everyday farming activities, resource consents must be assessed against Ngāi Tahu cultural values like mauri (life force), wairua (spiritual connections), whakapapa (relationships between all life forms), and utu (restoring balance).