A Northland iwi is sounding alarm bells over a government policy designed to protect indigenous biodiversity, which Ngāti Wai says could affect its ability to develop its land.
The draft national policy on indigenous biodiversity allows for the designation of areas of natural significance.
The areas would require iwi to get special resource consent to do anything with their whenua, and Ngāti Wai chief executive Huhana Lyndon says that's a violation of the Treaty of Waitangi.
“Our issue is the way with which our local governments are now supercharged to manage the indigenous biodiversity of whenua Māori.”