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Over 100 people turned out in Northland on Saturday for a blessing ceremony held on the grounds of what is to be the site of a new national prison.
The Corrections Department got the go ahead for the prison just last month but the battle over the plans has been running for over a decade.
Ngawha is a sacred place to Northland Maori and its future has split the community. A $100 million prison will be built there and the arguments for and against it have pitted Maori against Maori, family against family.
There were no placards, but activist Titewhai Harawira added her voice to the protest.
"You don't represent Ngapuhi, you represent yourselves..."
But while those against the prison were few in number, that does not mean the region has accepted the prison as an inevitabilty. An appeal has been lodged against the Environment Court's decision to approve the jail.
"There's nowhere else for us to turn. We're trying the legal process but Matt Robson, Ministeror Corrrections, is totally thumbing his nose at us and denying us our constitutional rights."
"Sooner or later people will reconcile to the fact that we need to have a prison for those who get sent away from the north. This site is the most appropriate."
The prison will house up to 350 inmates, many of them will be Ngapuhi or Ngati Rangi. Critics say the site is tapu and a prison will desecrate the land.
But for now the argument is academic as the ground is now being prepared and a halt will only come by court order.
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