Reserves are meant to be there for the general enjoyment and benefit of the public. So why the hell are DoC allowing a foreign billionaire to effectively enclose and privatise part of one?
When it’s finished, the new house of US billionaire and Tara Iti Golf Course owner Ric Kayne’s will have spectacular views over the dunes of Mangawhai.
Those views won’t be built out. Just 12m from his pool and 25m from his future house is the Mangawhai Wildlife Reserve.
Go for a stroll in the reserve and it’s unlikely you’ll realise you could get within eyeballing distance of a bathing billionaire. A sturdy, eight-string fence built by Tara Iti Holdings, extends - in places - up to 90m into the public reserve.
In total, 2.62 hectares of public land lies within the fence. Confusion over what is and isn’t public land has resulted in members of the media and public being told they were trespassing on at least two separate occasions.
Effectivley, its a naked land grab, and a theft of public property. The fence should be torn down. But just make sure you get the permisison of DoC first - because otherwise its a crime.
