SOUL co-spokespeople Qiane Matata-Sipu and Pania Newton at Ihumātao.
Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
In a conference this afternoon, Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL) group spokesperson Pania Newton said she had mixed feelings about today s announcement.
The group said the decision affirmed international commitments to indigenous rights and the place of tangata whenua in Aotearoa.
SOUL also thanked Kiingi Tūheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero Te Tuawhitu and his representatives for facilitating the resolution made today.
It said there was more work to do, but that today s resolution represented the start of the next phase in the process.
Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
“We can now begin to heal,” Ngaha, of Ngāti Te Ahiwaru, said. “We are overjoyed that we have finally reached this resolution. In many ways this is the beginning to recognise the injustices felt by the whānau and hapū of Ihumātao. We are so proud of our whānau.” SOUL spokeswoman Qiane Matata-Sipu said the agreement went some way to healing the intergenerational mamae, or shame, felt by tangata whenua who’d had their land taken from them.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Natalie Ngaha, Ngāti-Tāhinga Wilson, Qiane Matata-Sipu and Pania Newton spoke to media after the announcement.
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