Cultural redress is central to settlements between iwi and hapū and the Crown regarding breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Aotearoa-New Zealand. It forms part of settlement packages that include a historical account, a Crown apology, land return, statutory acknowledgements and related mechanisms. This paper examines cultural redress as part of a long-term reconciliation process aimed at cultural restoration, drawing on a recently completed PhD in Museum and Heritage Studies at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. The discussion focuses on Whitireia, located in Porirua within the rohe of Ngāti Toa Rangatira, a site long associated with resistance to land alienation and degradation. Although acquired by the Anglican Church in 1850 for a school that was never built, Whitireia later became central to legal debates over Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There is space in the Whitireia story for hope and a drive towards tino rangatiratanga (self-determination).

This presentation examines conservation as a critical heritage practice through a case study of kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) recovery in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with scientists and Ngāi Tahu representatives at the New Zealand Department of Conservation, it explores how institutional partnerships shape decision-making, authority, and responsibility within co-management frameworks. The paper critically assesses how mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori are integrated, translated, or constrained in state-led conservation, and how these arrangements negotiate enduring settler colonial power relations. Using a thematic framework grounded in Indigenous knowledge, spiritual ecology, and decolonizing theory, the analysis centers Indigenous environmental agency and relational ontologies. By framing conservation as a site of heritage production and contestation, this research contributes to critical heritage debates on environmental stewardship, multispecies relations, and Indigenous sovereignty, offering pathways toward more ethical and decolonized conservation practice.

Recognition of wāhi tapu (sacred places) and wāhi tūpuna (ancestral spaces) on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero helps restore Māori connections to cultural and ancestral landscapes. Through Māori-led nominations and cultural frameworks, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga works with Māori communities. Furthermore, the research process ensures Māori narratives and values guide how these places are researched, how effective engagement is undertaken, and how the importance of those places are recognised in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Indigenous self-determination and decolonisation are deeply tied to land governance and ontology, yet land-use planning in Aotearoa has historically functioned as a mechanism of colonial sovereignty. Planning frameworks have reconfigured Indigenous territories into settler-controlled spaces, while heritage is reduced to a generic community value that obscures Indigenous rights and ancestral relationships to land. Using the #protectihumātao movement as a case study, this presentation demonstrates how colonial power is maintained through the prioritisation of private property. Ihumaatao, a significant cultural heritage landscape within Tāmaki Makaurau’s volcanic field, was designated for development under the 2013 Special Housing Areas Act despite its protected status. By framing a housing emergency, the state created a “state of exception” that sidelined environmental values and ignored the free, prior, and informed consent of ahi kā. This paper argues such legislation continues settler-colonial dominance, and that heritage tools remain inadequate for Indigenous self-determination or sustainable environmental management.