The Ministry of Culture and Heritage which is leading the project to build an Erebus memorial says it remains absolutely committed to getting it built at the Parnell Rose Garden in Auckland.
That's despite opposition from some locals to it being put in Auckland's Parnell Rose Garden and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown describing the memorial as "a huge concrete thing" that would be better put at the airport.
"Mean spirited" is how iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei describes the people stopping it going ahead.i
The memorial, planned for Dove Myer-Robinson park in Parnell, will commemorate the 237 passengers who died when an Air New Zealand flight crashed into Antarctica's Mt Erebus in 1979.
This week marks 43 years since the disaster and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeated her commitment to delivering it.
The proposed Erebus memorial design. Photo: Ministry of Culture and Heritage
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga deputy chief executive delivery Glenis Philip-Barbara told Checkpoint there had been problems but they were moving as quickly as they could to get the memorial built.
"We're now waiting on a decision from the local board, Waitemata Local Board, we approached them for an extension of some conditions that are attached to our landowner consent so we can get going with this work."
The ministry had to seek archaeological consent, resource consent, the consent and blessing of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, as well as the consent from the landowner the Waitemata Local Board, she said.
The previous board had given consent to go ahead with the memorial, but conditions attached to the landowner consent meant they were time-bound and the ministry now had to seek an extension, Philip-Barbara said.
There are new staff on the board following the recent local body elections and they have been trying to get up to speed with the issue, she said.
"Just like us they've been working hard to try and understand why people are opposed to building a national memorial for these families - I'm struggling myself to understand."
Asked if the ministry would take the Waitemata Community Board to court if it decided not to allow the memorial to go ahead, Philip-Barbara said that would only be as a last resort.
Some of those who signed a petition against putting the Erebus memorial at the park may have been victims of misinformation, she said.
"They were led to believe that we were going to do awful things to that beautiful pōhutukawa tree that's there at Doug Myer-Robinson Park and in fact that tree has never been in danger as a consequence of building a memorial there, but it's been a little bit of misinformation that's proliferated and captured the imaginations of some."
Philip-Barbara said she had never met with any more than seven or eight people who opposed the memorial and she had listened to their concerns and reassure them that the tree would not be harmed.
