13 Dec 2018

Waitara land dispute resolved with new law

From Morning Report, 7:53 am on 13 December 2018

After 30 years of talks and nearly 160 years of disagreement, a law's been passed to resolve the long dispute over leasehold land at Waitara. The Taranaki wars began at Waitara - six kilometres inland from New Plymouth - when British troops fired shots at Māori, who didn't want to sell up. The land was taken and ended up in the hands of the New Plymouth District Council, sparking long and fraught disagreement that's ended with the passing of the Waitara Land Bill at Parliament on Wednesday night.