Court throws out two applications lodged against the Waipapa Marae Trust

Māori Land Court has again thrown out two applications lodged against the Waipapa Marae Trust.

The first application was lodged in October 2022 calling for a Judicial Conference into the administration of Waipapa Marae. The  applicants were:

1. Gareth Seymour
2. Queenie Te Hae
3. Carol Ann Te Hae
4. Georgina Awhitia Ngarongo
5. Jane Anderson

The second application was lodged by Gareth Seymour for the removal of the current trustees:

1. Cathrine Te Miringa Holland (CHAIR)
2. John Vittorio Edwards (DEPUTY CHAIR)
3. Nedracita Rangimarie Dunn
4. Worick Toko Tai
5. Tegan Porima

Both applications were dismissed by the Court on 5 December 2022 due to continual non-compliance of directions by the applicant.  A copy of the court minutes dated 17 April 2023, has been received by each Trustee named in the applications.

This is the second time Gareth Seymour (and others) has taken the Waipapa Marae Trustees to Court.

Seymour lodged his first application with the Māori Land Court in 2017 when he raised several complaints against the Trustees for failing to meet their governance obligations. 

In July 2020, after several court interventions, Judge Clark stated he was satisfied the issues that formed the basis of the original complaint had been addressed and that there was no need for the Court to intervene any further.

Instead, Judge Clark took the opportunity to acknowledge the considerable work done by the new Trustees elected in 2019, and their efforts to streamline the systems and processes underpinning the governance and operations of the Marae.  

This application by Gareth Seymour was dismissed.

In respect of these current applications, Trust chair, Cathy Holland says once again, the Waipapa Marae Trust has been vindicated by the court.

“We are not surprised that both applications would fail.  The grounds seeking our dismissal were ill-founded and based on assumptions and suppositions rather than fact.  However, the downside for the Trust is that in preparation for the pending court cases, we were forced to engage legal counsel at a cost to the Marae.

We see the decision to dismiss both applications as an endorsement that the Trust is competent and capable of fulfilling its responsibilities to manage the governance and operational functions of our Marae.”