ceremonies and took appropriate measures where necessary to exercise their mana whenua and kaitiakitanga responsibilities in and around the Athenree Forest. As far as I am aware, the current licensee does not have a similar arrangement and no appropriate process is in place to protect Hauraki waahi tapu within the forest.

TAONGA

39. No Maori in this region was left unaffected by the pattern of confiscation and the practice of colonial history. As a result of our kinship and whakapapa linkages, all iwi to a greater or lesser extent wherever they lived, suffered the same fate.

40. In the areas of Hauraki interest, being the Te Puna-Katikati-Te Kauri Point-Ongare Point-Athenree and Athenree Forest area the position is much worse. Put simply and unequivocally Hauraki have no land at all in this region and even our taonga have been taken from us and our waahi tapu desecrated.

41. In this part of my evidence I confirm our ongoing interests in our taonga, their significance to us and our concerns regarding our difficulties in locating and ultimately returning our taonga. I also consider in this section the recently enacted Protected Objects Amendment Act 2006 and any effect that the amendments this Act introduces will have on our taonga and our relationship with them.

42. The term ‘taonga' can refer to a wide range of material, cultural and spiritual phenomena important to Maori. There are a variety of definitions of taonga in circulation, including the definition in the Protected Objects Amendment Act 2006 and those definitions used by the museums described in the evidence of Dr Furey.¹⁴ In the Hauraki Inquiry, a particular definition was adopted by Hauraki iwi, and we continue to rely upon this which is set out below:

¹⁴ Refer paragraph 19.2 of Dr Furey’s evidence