Post by Kiwi Frontline on May 5, 2016 17:33:22 GMT 12
POLICY SOUGHT ON RATES REMISSION FOR UNPRODUCTIVE LAND
A Maori legal centre has called on the Dunedin City Council to provide rates remission for Maori ancestral land not producing revenue.
Ms Williams said a ‘‘very minimal'' amount of land was involved, but a block owned by William and Mary Ellison, who accompanied her at the annual plan hearing, was an example.
She said the land involved was freehold land that had been passed down through generations, and was quite different from iwi-owned land.
The couple were not keen to abandon Maori land.‘‘Maori hold the view that they are inexorably connected to the land.
‘‘The catastrophic loss of Maori land which has taken place since colonisation has irreparably damaged the spiritual links of Maori with their whenua,'' Ms Williams said in her submission.
Asked about the scope of freehold land, Ms Williams said in the South Island it made up about half a percent of land mass.
In Dunedin, where there were blocks in Karitane, Waikouaiti and some on the Taieri, it made up less than quarter of a percent of land….
www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/382111/policy-sought-rates-remission-unproductive-land
A Maori legal centre has called on the Dunedin City Council to provide rates remission for Maori ancestral land not producing revenue.
Ms Williams said a ‘‘very minimal'' amount of land was involved, but a block owned by William and Mary Ellison, who accompanied her at the annual plan hearing, was an example.
She said the land involved was freehold land that had been passed down through generations, and was quite different from iwi-owned land.
The couple were not keen to abandon Maori land.‘‘Maori hold the view that they are inexorably connected to the land.
‘‘The catastrophic loss of Maori land which has taken place since colonisation has irreparably damaged the spiritual links of Maori with their whenua,'' Ms Williams said in her submission.
Asked about the scope of freehold land, Ms Williams said in the South Island it made up about half a percent of land mass.
In Dunedin, where there were blocks in Karitane, Waikouaiti and some on the Taieri, it made up less than quarter of a percent of land….
www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/382111/policy-sought-rates-remission-unproductive-land