RMA reform minister Chris Bishop bowed to public pressure to release a list of organisations he had approached about applying to have consents fast-tracked.
About 4.35pm on Monday, police, ambulance, and a rescue helicopter were called to Lake Rotokawau, a small lake east of Rotorua, after the girl drowned. Local kaumātua Dr Ken Kennedy, who is a Ngāti Rangiteaorere Koromatua Council co-chair, was among those who performed karakia at the site on Tuesday and placed a rāhui on the lake. This was one of four drownings this week in the Waikato, prompting a warning from Water Safety. On Wednesday drownings were at Two Mile Bay in Taupō, and earlier at about 11am at Karioitahi Beach, and on Tuesday an 18-year-old died at Lake Arapuni.
Rotorua iwi school land dispute: Kaumātua says Ministry of Education breached Treaty of Waitangi
23 Dec, 2020 05:00 AM
5 minutes to read
A dispute is brewing over the location of a new school with a local kaumātua saying the Ministry of Education should never have bought the land where it s intended to be built. Dr Ken Kennedy claims the Ministry of Education has breached the Treaty of Waitangi by buying land near Rotorua for the purpose of building a new school for Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai.
Kennedy, who is speaking out as co-chairman of Ngāti Rangiteaorere Koromatua Council, said the land, which was owned by a private farmer, was taken from Ngāti Rangiteaorere by the Crown decades ago and should have been offered to his iwi for sale first.