'Not in the best interest for Patea' - Locals protest seabed mining in Taranaki

More than 300 hundred people have marched through Patea protesting seabed mining of the South Taranaki coast.

The protest on Wednesday morning represented the community's worries that a proposal by Australian mining company Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) will be chosen as one of the projects subject to fast-track legislation.

Rachel Rae, the kaiwhakahaere - leader of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui, said the iwi were very concerned over TTR's application to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed every year for 30 years.

Read more:

• TTR bids for fast tracking of Patea seabed mining
• The Fast Track Changes Bill - What you need to know

"At the end of the day, it is not [in] the best interest for Patea, it's not the best interest for our maunga, it's not the best interest for our awa," she said.

Whānau in Patea were feeling unbelievably frustrated that despite TTR's bid to mine the seabed being blocked in the courts they were still having to get out and protest, she said.

"I'd like to see the government take note of the outcomes of the three court cases that we won ... Where do they stand in that? I'd like the government to really do some research instead of just looking at the dollar signs."

Ngāti Ruanui would carry on fighting, Rae said.

"This probably won't be our only protest, if it goes through fast-track we will be going to Parliament. We will be going down to Wellington."

Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader and member of Ngāti Ruanui Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the community want to send a united message of opposition to the government and mining sector.

"The reality is that our communities have to live with what it is that everyone in Wellington decides and talks about. So the whole purpose of this activation, bringing this protest together, is to unite our community, stand in solidarity and remind ourselves what it is that we've been doing for the last 12-13 years."

They wanted to see the government position align with previous court rulings and with what the community wanted, she said.

"You know we're feeling really sidelined, the language that's coming out of this government is oppressive, the decisions that have been put over the community are arrogant. We may be small but this sort of activism effort is always about building the power of the grassroots communities."

New Zealand has a moratorium on deep sea mining in international waters, but those same efforts are not being applied off the coast of Patea, Ngarewa-Packer said.

Seabed mining would also destroy the possibility of offshore wind generation in the area, she

"There'll be no easy process to this. The government continues on, we will continue on too, because we've got nowhere else where we are tangata whenua but here."