Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is the first of five nominees for the 2018 Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year. Helen Harvey has interviewed each of the finalists. The winner will be announced on New Year's Day.

For the best part of four years Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been at the forefront of the battle against seabed mining off the coast of South Taranaki.

In August last year, Trans-Tasman Resources was given consent to mine up to 50 million tonnes of iron sand from a 66sqkm area off the South Taranaki Bight for 35 years.

The decision was later overturned, appealed, and is heading to The Court of Appeal in 2019 for a final decision.

In her day job Ngarewa-Packer has the role of Kaiarataki at Te Runanga o Ngati Ruanui, but says this battle is not about race.

"We all have the same respect for our natural resources. We all have the same affinity for wanting our kids and our grandchildren to have something left. I don't think that's only a Māori thing."

Although much is unknown about the effects of seabed mining, it has galvanised young and old, Māori and non Māori, urban and rural, she says.

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"And that's so important, because it has very much been David and Goliath. I know that sounds pretty bloody corny, but it has been a David and Goliath story where individuals who have lived here for generations, of all races, have felt there needed to be some strong leadership and lobbying. So we ended up leading this kaupapa not just for the iwi. I think that in itself says a lot.

"There's not a lot of things as communities, and probably as New Zealanders, that we are absolutely united on and seabed mining was it."

Ngarew-Packer has been nominated for Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2018 for the role she has taken leading her community in confronting what is seen by many as a threat to the environment.

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been leading the fight against seabed mining off the coast of Taranaki.

She's one of a collective, Ngarewa-Packer, 52, says.

"It's never about the individual. That's the reason behind my reluctance to even have this conversation. I feel really conscious about that. But probably, it's about the future and anything that is going to adversely affect future generations is something we take very seriously."

Seabed mining is a little bit different than other oil and gas extraction activities that go on, she says.

"It's new and a lot of what they are proposing is unprecedented. As a region we get the (economic and environmental) trade-offs.

"But this one had so much uncertainty and the length of what they are proposing to do, versus the uncertainty of how much damage it's going to do. I think that the critical thing is throughout it all there was never any evidence provided that there was not going to be any damage to the environment."

Usually there is science, there is data, there is some type of evidence, she says.

"But in this it was very speculative. It's more disruptive. You get an oil rig, you drill a hole and it stays put. This is proposing to go over a huge amount of area for a long amount of time.

"No matter how desperate we are for economic development there is a real unity about wanting to make sure the next generation inherit something - the ocean."

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been nominated for the Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year for leading the fight against seabed mining.

Taranaki is a coastal and people take pride in our relationship with the sea, she says.

"We love the sea. We love to surf. We love to fish. I doubt there is many in Taranaki that can't relate to the ocean."

She had to call on a lot of networks to co-ordinate what was a growing movement.

"We have this amazing groundswell. It's humbling, the people that helped. Amazing goodwill pushed us across.

"Iwi are used to lobbying but not at this scale. And they were contending with opposition that had big budgets, with full page ads and interactive videos that made it look like there was this tiny little tractor vacuum quietly on the bottom of the ocean where there was no sea life."

The fight has been time consuming, she says.

"It's been probably hours that you never expect. I think for anyone who is involving in leading or coordinating a kaupapa like this it is a 24 hours kaupapa. It becomes part of your brand whether you like that, whether you are prepared for that, or not.

"You don't get to pick and choose when you want to lead it. You don't get to pick and choose how you are seen and it would be wrong for me not to say people can use their own personal agendas as a reason to knock you down. And most people who front or lead a kaupapa have to confront that."

SIMON O'CONNOR/STUFF Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is passionate about having something left for future generations.

And she is not finished yet.

"Even if we're successful in the next court I have no doubt they will take it to the Supreme, so you have to make the sacrifices all the way through.

"But what has been brilliant is we have been able to go to court and win twice."

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