Poor Knights sovereignty

In the early hours of 30 October 2025, members of   Ngatiwai landed on the Poor Knights Islands, erected a flagpole, and cemented in a carved wooden post. Ngatiwai chairman Aperahama Kepeti-Edwards said it was “a deliberate assertion of our rangatiratanga and enduring ancestral connection” and “a direct challenge to Crown sovereignty.”

The Poor Knights are managed by the Department of Conservation under the Marine Reserves Act 1971 and Reserves Act 1977, which strictly prohibit landing without a permit. The islands are the sole breeding ground for Buller’s shearwater — a migratory seabird long harvested by Ngatiwai before protection laws were enacted.

By landing, disturbing the landscape, and erecting structures, they breached conservation laws carrying penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment or $100,000 for individuals, plus $10,000 per day for ongoing offences. While their flag was later removed, the carved post remains.

Despite clear breaches of the law, neither the Department of Conservation, the Police, nor the Government has issued any public response. Critics argue that the failure to prosecute amounts to preferential treatment based on the offenders’ tribal affiliations — or are the rules now optional for everyone? Letterbox understands there are those prepared to take a private prosecution if the authorities aren’t. More on this in the next issue.