I belong to a family that has always been deeply connected to nature. This land we have resided on for the last thousand years has shaped our lives and our identity in many ways. However, the Maori Land Court Website has been recently modified, designed to be more confusing and unnavigable, alienating those of us who used to treasure its old form and going against the Te Tura Whenua Act 1993 part 7 subsection 145. This original website was a vital platform yielding important knowledge and connections, aiding in establishing turangawaewae, and helping whanau trace whakapapa lost in the land wars, held dear as a digital representation of our heritage and identity to those who value retrospection in digital spaces. I ask we invoke part act 1 part 25 of the Te Tura Whenua Maori Act 1993 and turn back to the original MLC website that was efficient and streamlined, that allowed you to view multiple land titles at once, and land titles were organized by last name.

Currently the new website takes minutes per a name to search each individual land block, organizes names by first name instead of their last name which makes no sense, and makes finding family significantly difficult to track, especially with same names having multiple variations of spelling.

In my opinion this is a blatant attempt by the Maori Land Court to alienate Maori further from their land.

Reverting to the prior website will SIGNIFICANTLY increase user satisfaction and engagement, and most importantly, restore the warmth of our collective memory. Sign this petition, don’t let our digital heritage be forgotten. Together we can bring it back to its original form.