Judicial Review decision 23 December 2020

The Judicial Review decision was publicly released this morning. Sadly, the judge has found in Tūpuna Maunga Authority and Auckland Council’s favour, which means they are now free to fell Ōwairaka / Mt Albert’s trees at any time.

It is important to remember that Honour the Maunga did not initiate the Judicial Review and we are not bound by its decision. Our position remains unchanged and we will continue our efforts to honour this beautiful maunga and all the lifeforms she supports by preventing the needless destruction of 345 trees.

We were only advised of the outcome yesterday afternoon so are still in the process of understanding the situation and its implications for our ongoing presence on the maunga.  Even though the decision has gone Tūpuna Maunga Authority and Auckland Council’s way, we would note that just because they now can destroy around 2500 exotic trees from Auckland’s maunga, it doesn’t mean that they should.

Auckland Council and New Zealand’s Government have both declared climate emergencies, so we are calling on the Authority and Council to rethink their approaches and put Papatūānuku / Mother Earth at the centre of all decision making on this issue.

Given Auckland Council’s dire financial situation, we also question the integrity of spending many millions of ratepayer-funded dollars on such a deeply divisive and destructive programme.

We call upon on both entities to start acting with integrity to build bridges with local communities – communities whose rates are paying for this. Community engagement and support will be especially important if the Authority intends to progress with plans to apply for Tāmaki Makaurau’s maunga to become UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The Judicial Review decision means that the coming year will be a challenging one. Over the past 13 months Honour the Maunga has been subject to innumerable lies and ugly mistruths promulgated by the Authority and its supporters and we anticipate another tsunami of them will be coming our way.

But we are not deterred and will continue to stand strong for the maunga, her trees and her lifeforms because if we don’t stand up for Papatūānuku, then who will?