Fringe group given ‘thousands’ of dollars by desperate Greenpark Huts residents | The Press
https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360555862/fringe-group-given-thousands-dollars-desperate-greenpark-huts-residents
A fringe group has accepted “thousands” of dollars from desperate hut residents on the shores on Canterbury’s Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere, claiming it will protect them from eviction.
But a respected kaumātua at Greenpark Huts who was initially optimistic believes the group, Te Rūnanga Ko Huiarau, is using residents as “a tool … to run another agenda”.
A senior law lecturer was also concerned by the group apparently exercising false rangatiratanga (sovereignty), stating it had no legal standing in Western law, common law or tikanga (customary practice).
Last year residents were approached by Te Rūnanga Ko Huiarau, a sovereignty group claiming to be an ancient tribal authority that began 2000 years ago and placed Māori as the leaders of the world, according to Vanessa Robson (Te Arawa), a self-proclaimed peace ambassador for the group who joined when the Covid pandemic started in 2020.