Suspended as trustee of a Kaitaia ahu whenua trust, Rose Dudley persisted in ignoring Maori Land Court orders as she attempted to negotiate favoured access to her own home at the expense of other customary owners, leading to her removal as trustee.
A twelve hectare block off Fairburn Road operates as an ahu whenua trust, hosting a papakainga for its customary owners. Access to their homes depends upon an informal road permitted by pakeha owners of neighbouring land.
The Maori Land Court was told of customary owners obtaining funding to upgrade their housing, conditional in part on formal road access being established. This required negotiations with their neighbour, and registration of a surveyed easement.
Evidence was given of Rose Dudley, as one of the customary owners, persistently undermining the trust’s proposed plans for an easement, favouring a route benefitting her home.
She countermanded trustee instructions given to surveyors, increasing trust costs with superfluous survey work undertaken.
In October 2025, the Maori Land Court suspended Ms Dudley’s authority to act as a trustee.
Then in May 2026, she was removed as a trustee with immediate effect.
Ms Dudley was no longer working in the best interest of their ahu whenua trust, Judge Williams said.
She had acted in contempt of court by ignoring her earlier suspension as trustee; contacting funding agencies causing confusion in their minds about trust plans and activities.
This raised a risk of funding being withdrawn, Judge Williams said.
It is very clear she has little comprehension of what is required of a trustee and the fact that she could not act unilaterally. She refused to follow legal advice and refused to follow decisions made collectively by trustees, he said.
Ms Dudley separately applied to have all the other trustees dismissed, without successs.
Petersen v. Dudley – Maori Land Court (5.05.26)
26.150