DoC ADMITS FAILURES

 The Department of Conservation (DoC) has admitted it failed to properly oversee the management of three DoC-owned campgrounds in the Far North.

Since 2018, the Ngāti Kuri Trust Board has retained revenue from the Spirits Bay and Tapotupotu campgrounds, with Rarawa added in 2021. DoC now estimates it is owed $1.8 million in campground revenue. Ngāti Kuri disputes that any debt exists, apparently taking the view that it was entitled to the revenue.

DOC OUTRAGE

A storm has erupted on social media following a story in the Northern Advocate reporting that the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre had been fined $400 for a breach involving a kiwi. The "breach" was allowing a child to pat a kiwi chick.

DOC's team leader for “wildlife crime” said kiwi permits require handlers to follow a best practice manual. The “crime” was that the child was not an approved handler, although Robert Webb is, and he was present at the time the offence was committed.

Poor knights occupation

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

Documents obtained by LETTERBOX under the Official Information Act detail the events leading up to the landing, the action taken by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff to reduce biosecurity risks, and the reason why the occupiers were not prosecuted, despite one report stating there were “many offences committed by persons affiliated with Ngatiwai.”