Press Release - For Immediate Release
Hone Harawira - 12 April 2011

“The Crown mobilised their armed forces against Northern Maori in the 1840’s, they moved against the people of Parihaka in 1881, they did it again at Bastion Point in 1978, and now,” said Hone Harawira, Independent MP for the Tai Tokerau, “the Crown has ordered the Navy and the Air Force to move against Te Whanau a Apanui, Ngäti Porou and Greenpeace who are opposed to government’s deal allowing Petrobras to survey for oil in the Raukumara Basin, and demonstrated that opposition by stopping the survey ships off the East Cape.

“And in case people aren’t sure what the real issue is,” said Harawira “it’s not about the right of Petrobras to go about their ‘legal’ activity, it’s about the rights of the iwi to protect their foreshore and seabed, and the rights of New Zealanders to a clean and healthy future for their grandchildren.”

“The deafening silence you hear is the Maori Party, who, having voted for the Marine and Coastal Area Bill, is now locked into supporting the rape and pillage of New Zealand’s coast by Petrobras and other overseas companies lining up to get on the block.

“I support the stand taken by Te Whanau a Apanui and Ngati Porou, and I am asking the iwi leaders up north to reaffirm their own opposition to deep-sea drilling, because as sure as night follows day, government will be letting Petrobras loose in our seas as soon as they’ve finished down the East Coast.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media