Ngā Hapū o Poutama have today requested that Minister Potaka and Minister Bishop immediately revoke their consent under s 71 of the Wildlife Act allowing NZTA to kill protected wildlife including kiwi and bats at Mt Messenger.

Minister Potaka has every ability since his appointment as Minister of Conservation to withdraw his consent under s 71 of the Wildlife Act to kill kiwi and bats at Mt Messenger as did Minister Brown and as does Minister Bishop as Minister of Transport.

As Matthew Tukaki says

“It would have shocked many New Zealanders today to discover that a Minister of the Crown can approve the State sanctioned killing of our national Taonga, the kiwi. I dare say it would have shocked the world. After decades of fighting to save the kiwi, for the sake of a bypass, a Minister, using an Act of Parliament can approve their killing … Should it be reported? Absolutely – should we be threatened with a referral to the media council? No. That part was extremely silly on behalf of a Ministerial media advisor.”[1]

It also shocked many New Zealanders in 2021 to discover that NZTA had been using builder's foam to fill in bat roosts on the route of the Mt Messenger bypass in Taranaki.[2]

As below, Minister Bishop was advised last week that the Mt Messenger project has exceeded its approved funding (earthworks are less than 20% complete). NZTA didn't do enough investigation in the pre-implementation phase and didn't apply the right contingency based on the huge quantum of unknowns when they priced the original $200M for bypass Option E.

Option Z was and still is the only viable alternative, it has been there for more than 100 years and is being used every day by the travelling public. NZTA made it “quite clear to the Court” in July 2019 that NZTA could go back to an alternative route.[3] The bypass project should immediately be stopped and consideration given to transferring the tunnelling machine onto the Option Z alignment and utilising the existing infrastructure or abandoning the project altogether.As the Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter says it is not too late to stop the Mt Messenger Bypass project in Taranaki.[4]

Ngā Hapū o Poutama believe that the NZTA Board have demonstrated that they are not fit to make decisions about the Mt Messenger project and have asked Minister Bishop to apply to a court as a matter of urgency under section 60 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 for orders requiring the NZTA Board to immediately stop the Mt Messenger project and restraining the NZTA Board from using any more of its revenue on the Mt Messenger bypass Option E.

1 https://waateanews.com/2025/03/10/explainer-state-sanctioned-kiwi-killing/

2 Waka Kotahi using builder's foam to block off potential bat roosts at Mt Messenger bypass site | RNZ News

3 Amicus Curiae, Series 2, Volume 4, No 3, 649-659 Tikanga and the Law Wānanga: Tikanga in Environmental Jurisdiction – Judge Michael Doogan Māori Land Court [Spring 2023]

4 Greens weigh in on Mt Messenger bypass controversy | RNZ News

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