Northland Maori have been making sure their voices are heard by Norwegian oil giant Statoil.
Scores of people picketed a closed meeting with executives in Whangarei yesterday.
Rudy Taylor is on the Maori Advisory for the Regional Council and says Statoil knows it's not welcome but the council can't stop them.
"There are a lot of people that were questioning and lot of good sweet talk was coming out of it. So this is something that they hope to get their heads around. But in the end they only answer to the Government."
The company's exploring the Cape Reinga Basin for deep sea oil drilling.
RadioLIVE
