Mai Whaitpu ki te Raki
Ki Awhitu ki te Tonga
Te Mānuka o Hoturoa te taonga
He wāhi rerehua ki te kanohi ki te kite
He kāinga noho
He wāhi tuari
He wāhi ripoinga
He oko kai
This is a fascinating harbour.
There is a lot of beauty and it’s changing all the time.
It’s just a vast space. It’s just so big.
And I do love it.
It’s actually about our people and our community
and for our children and our future.
In a world that is having its troubles,
these are really beautiful spots in our environment.
This harbour matters for the same reason that
ocean environments and harbours matter all over the world.
It’s part of life on earth
and it’s part of our lived experience.
The general public of Auckland would not know
the problems we have on the Manukau Harbour.
The Manukau Harbour is not a cesspit that you just pour rubbish into.
The Manukau Harbour shouldn’t be just treated
as a second class citizen compared to the Waitematā.
The truth needs to be told that we should all be worried about this harbour.
When I was going to school at Otahuhu College
we used to get the bus from Green Bay.
Going past what we called Lavender Flats, and it was the stinking mess
of the Māngere Inlet because there were two
freezing works discharging stuff.
Sometimes when the tide was out it was red.
The worst contamination is from zinc and chrome.
That is from factories. That is from industries.
It’s not all from farming that is going pouring into the Manukau.
When I grew up here
there were very few mangroves in this inlet.
My mum and her sisters used to
gather food from the harbour, catching fish
and bringing fish home. Shellfish.
It was common to have that type of food every week.
The things we took for granted when we were young
are no longer available in this harbour anyway.
The biggest threat to the harbour without a doubt is human activity.
Cleaning up the harbour really matters.
We really need to take care of the harbour.
The Manukau Harbour is vital for our community to connect.
Kia ora, I am Saffron Toms, I’m chair of the Manukau Harbour Forum.
It has given the opportunity for all of the nine local boards that surround the harbour
to get together and have a really good korero about
the important issues for the harbour
and become a combined voice for advocacy
for the wellbeing of the harbour.
It’s not only just money it’s peoples’ attitudes.
The key thing for me is that in the old parts of the suburb
the stormwater just goes straight out into the harbour.
No filtering whatsoever.
Whereas in the new standards set in the Unitary Plan
the water has to go into a detention system before it’s released.
It’s not perfect
but at least it’s doing some sort of filtering of that urban water.
It’s about everyone making an effort.
Children form a relationship with nature
and that’s really hard when they are actually
forming a relationship with their screens.
This is going to be a forest in 50 years time.
I bought my kids down here so they could come back here and say
they planted this with their dad.
Let’s get generations of people understanding what’s going on in the harbour.
People do swim in the harbour.
Then they see the sign saying you can’t swim here.
We are getting closer to saying yes you can.
The Manukau Harbour is a taonga.
It’s a treasure which we must all look after.
Aotearoa New Zealand is an island nation.
This is my Moana. And that is why it’s special to me.