Report of the Waitangi Tribunal on the Waiau Power Station Claim
Waiau Pa claim
Claim Wai 2, the Waiau Pa power station claim, was brought on 1 February 1977 by Mr T E Kirkwood on behalf of the Waikato subtribes and the Manukau Harbour Action Association on behalf of the Waiau Pa community and the associated communities of Glenbrook, Karaka, and Patumahoe. It concerned a proposal by the New Zealand Electricity Department to construct a 1400-megawatt power station consisting of four 350 megawatt units on a site close to Waiau Pa on the south-western shores of Manukau Harbour.
The proposed power station required a system of condenser cooling, and two different systems were thought by the Electricity Department to be applicable to the site. These were a cooling pond, which would require about 560 hectares of intertidal land, or cooling towers. The claimants objected, alleging that the scheme was inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty in that, if it was undertaken, they would suffer the loss of a substantial continuing food supply and thereby be prejudically affected.
The Tribunal constituted to hear the claim comprised Chief Judge Kenneth Gillanders Scott (presiding), Graham Latimer, and Laurence Southwick QC. The claim was heard in June 1977, and the Tribunal released its report in March 1978.
The Tribunal found that the claimants would have been prejudicially affected had the New Zealand Electricity Department proceeded with its proposal to erect a power station and cooling pond in the vicinity of Waiau Pa. Before it made its findings, however, the Government decided not to proceed with the project.
From the evidence, the Tribunal is satisfied that, for the people from Waiau Pa, the principal fishing ground is that area of the harbour whence the intended cooling ponds would be situated. The cooling ponds, if built, would occupy 560ha, a significant portion of the fishing area. Any loss of fishing area is serious in this harbour because of what has already taken place, but when a number of factors are taken into account, the seriousness of the loss becomes more significant. …
The Tribunal believes from the evidence adduced that the waters in the Waiau Pa area are too important from so many points of view associated with fishing and fish life to permit of any situation to arise whereby damage is likely to occur.
—The Waitangi Tribunal
