Much of the material on Mr Batchelor's websites has been blatantly plagiarised from the local tangata whenua and their own existing land management plans, but Julian Batchelor likes to make out that all this is his idea, and he is leading the local tangata whenua who are his great friends. This would not seem to be the case in actual fact. In fact, emails between Mr Batchelor and Ngati Kuta kaumatua and hapu representatives expose a very ugly picture of Mr Batchelor indeed, nothing like the image Mr Batchelor likes to portray in his carefully stage managed public profile.
"Recently we wrote to the Department of Conservation and the Government asking them to seriously consider . . . " blah blah - this is directly copied from the hapu resource management plans and marae websites. But Julian Batchelor hasn't consulted with hapu at all. His communications with the tangata whenu seem to be that he met a couple of Maori chaps on the beach one day, asked them if they were locals, they told him they were, so he asked them if they'd like a job mowing his lawns etc. Julian is now claiming that these chaps told him they were local kaumatua and authorised to speak for the hapu and make important decisions. On the beach. Or while they were mowing the lawns perhaps . . .
Ngati Kuta and Patukeha would have expected Mr Batchelor to have written to the hapu long ago requesting a formal meeting to discuss his extravagant plans. If he had done so a hui would have been convened at Te Rawhiti Marae, and notices issued to the whanau far and wide to allow full consultation, to facilitate this. Mr Batchelor is a real estate agent. He knows all about the importance of doing due diligence, and the implications of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including the all important and much overlooked fourth clause of Te Tiriti regarding the sanctity of preserving the Maori spiritual beliefs and freedom of religion.
Julian Batchelor, as a real estate agent. He is also very well aware of the importance of the laws and bylaws regarding proper consultation processes. Everyone knows that every second Maori gentleman down the beach is likely to pull their leg and tell the tourists he's a local kaumatua, and his grandmother was a Maori princess, that's what the tauiwi want to hear. A real estate agent - especially one who has received emails since 2009 - prior to him purchasing the property from the person who had no right to sell the land to him, advising him in no uncertain terms that the land is Ngati Kuta land, in fact our most precious and sacred land, and is under claims in the Waitangi Tribunal, and under protection from Heritage NZ - Julian Batchelor is taking the mickey to feign innocence in the knowledge of these matters! Of COURSE he was aware of the legal requirements!
Having been stopped abruptly in his tracks by the Stop Work Notice and the Heritage New Zealand intervention, Mr Batchelor suddenly wants to "consult" with the locals. 'The locals' are not fooled - Mr Batchelor has been used to doing things on a very matey basis with the FNDC, fooling them into giving him vague "verbal consent" to desecrate our land and wreak destruction upon our land and Crown land and DoC land, on the basis of a cup of tea and a verbal chat. Hapu are not so casual in their approach to this matter and have requested that Mr Batchelor and the Far North District Council provide all information regarding Mr Batchelor's developments, resource consent and building consent applications etc, forthwith and have advised them in no uncertain terms that there will be no 'consultation' until ALL of the information has been provided - Mr Batchelor was given until the 4th December 2015 to provide ALL information regarding the recent works to FNDC, then FNDC gave him until the 12th, then the 23rd - he's provided NONE of it! But is trying to hurry hapu to meet with him, on the eve of the Christmas holidays, and make decisions in the absence of any information whatsoever - who does he think he is???
Julian Batchelor is a real estate agent and property developer from Auckland. He is also the founder and 'leader' of a religious cult.
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| Julian and 'the team' at Evangelism Strategies International, ready to take on the world. |
He has a plan to get rich renting out his "Oke Bay lodge" - the going rate for similar accommodation is $1200 per night plus extras. He also plans to use Maori land and other land he doesn't own as part of his plans, which also include "evangelising" everyone who uses the Department of Conservation track to "Cape Brett", and has set up a slick website, including Department of Conservation "APPROVED" logos, intellectual property belonging to the local hapu (Maori tangata whenua, people of the land) which he has blatantly plagiarised without permission, etc.
Unfortunately, Mr Batchelor's plans don't live up to all the hype.
Here we have some evidence of Mr Batchelor's handiwork.
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| We're waiting to see Mr Batchelor's resource consents - does this look straight to you? |
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| This picture clearly shows the pohutukawa tree Mr Batchelor demolished to make way for his lawn. |
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| You can see what a mickey mouse job this is just by looking at it! |
Mr Batchelor then had some vague verbal chat with his mates at the Far North District Council, who issued "verbal consent for some work but not the work Mr Batchelor actually carried out" according to the Far North District Council.
Not worrying himself with trivialities and bothersome details such as resource consents and legal requirements, Julian and his trusty retired Christian engineer swung into action. No end of heavy machinery was brought in and the knight in shining armour set about constructing a castle befitting his status as the very embodiment of god himself sent to save the world. Unfortunately for the local residents whose lives depend on the road, which promptly collapsed into the sea under the weight of the heavy machinery and the erosion caused by Julian Batchelor's cowboy plumbing arrangements.
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| Julian parks his logs anywhere he likes. This is the access to the local urupa (cemetery). Locals are disgusted. |
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| The actual size of the logs, and weight of them, can be seen in this picture. Completely blocking the access to the urupa. |
Mr Batchelor touts that "the locals are friendly" - and so we are. The people of Te Rawhiti have been always renowned for their hospitality to visitors. We are a kind, humble, gentle people, with a history of getting along with others, and working with others to mutual advantage, but the only advantage to be had from Julian Batchelor's plans is to Julian Batchelor. Mr Batchelor is blatantly exploiting the tangata whenua, and blatantly flouting the law with utter contempt for either the law or his neighbours.
Mr Batchelor also touts on his websites that his Oke Bay Lodge is well equipped to deal with "the overflow of visitors at the local marae". He can't even deal with the overflow from his own teka kaka (filthy stinking raw sewage) let alone the visitors to our marae - if he'd bothered to take a glance at the websites of Ngati Kuta me Patukeha and Te Rawhiti marae he would have perhaps become aware that among the spiritual beliefs and practises of the people of the marae are included several other religions, such as Ratana. He may perhaps have become aware that in fact the very first Ratana church in New Zealand is at the site of another Ngati Kuta Patukeha wahi tapu very close by. Our kuia conduct Ratana church services regularly in the whare at our Marae, and Mr Batchelor's ignorant and arrogant lack of respect to their spiritual beliefs and freedom of religion, and freedom to visit their loved ones on the wahi tapu above the Marae, without Mr Batchelor's incessant harassment, his accosting them on the way to the urupa and our other lands, and his obsessive efforts to 'convert' them to his preferred form of religion. He has no empathy or understanding of other people whatsoever, they don't matter to him, apart from where they fit in his plan, and he decided where we fitted long ago, the trouble is, he has never consulted with us, about any of it. He is now claiming that he knew nothing about any problems. That's blatantly untrue.
