Maori leader joins Australian fight for ownership of manuka name

Australia’s claim to manuka honey has gained credence across the Tasman as a prominent Maori joins the Australian Manuka Honey Association board.

Helping hand: A prominent Maori figure in New Zealand has been appointed to the Australian Manuka Honey Association board.

AUSTRALIA’S fight to retain naming rights to manuka honey has been bolstered with the appointment of a prominent Maori figure to its ranks.

Tom Walters, chief executive of the Maori Research Institute and a professional trustee of the Maori Land Trusts, has joined the Australian Manuka Honey Association board six months after publicly siding with Australian manuka producers’ argument that manuka could be used to describe an Australian-produced honey from the flowers of Leptospermum spp native to Australia.

Parts of New Zealand’s man­uka honey industry however vehemently disagree. Their argument, led by the Unique Manuka Factor Association, is that manuka is a Maori word and describes honey from the nectar of Leptospermum scoparium, one of the 87 known Leptospermum species worldwide that grows in New Zealand.

Over the past four years, New Zealand manuka producers have applied for trademarks for the words “manuka honey” in Australia, the US, China and New Zealand. Their bid hit technical roadblocks in Australia and the US, but has recently been provisionally accepted in New Zealand and the UK. The Federal Government has sided with domestic manuka producers to fight the trademark application.

Mr Walters said he accepted the board appointment to kickstart more collaborative marketing between the two manuka producers and jointly fight counterfeit product.

“Australia and New Zealand are blessed with a unique resource and we should grow the values of those products in harmony, together,” he said.

The Manuka Charitable Trust was set up three months ago to protect Maori terms including “manuka”. Charity spokesman Victor Goldsmith said Mr Walters did not have a mandate to represent Maori.

“I do not envisage that the trust will meet with Tom Walters or the Australian manuka Honey Association any time soon,” Mr Goldsmith said.

MORE:

AUSTRALIAN HONEY PRODUCERS ACT TO PROTECT MANUKA INDUSTRY

MANUKA HONEY: BATTLE TO MONOPOLISE INDUSTRY TURNS SOUR

OPINION: KIWIS’ BID TO HIJACK MANUKA HONEY LEAVES A SOUR TASTE