The Waitangi Tribunal was established to provide a formal legal process for investigating Māori Treaty claims and making recommendations to the Government.

👉 Read the guide to the practice and procedure of the Waitangi Tribunal

Ngāti Kahu’s first claim is lodged by the late Papa McCully Matiu, ‘The Mangonui Sewage Claim (Wai 17)’, opposing a proposed sewage plant at Taipa.

👉  Read the full Mangonui Sewage Report 1988. 

The Waitangi Tribunal gains the power to make binding recommendations. This meant it could order the Government to return State-Owned Enterprise and Crown Forest lands, which is up to around 6,000 hectares for Ngāti Kahu, at no cost to claimants, and also require compensation to be paid to the claimants.

The government introduces the ‘Fiscal Envelope’ policy to stop binding recommendations, placing a cap on all settlements. Although Māori across the country rejected the policy, the Governement ignored protests.  This made it easier and cheaper for the Crown to control the process and push iwi towards full and final collective settlements that return less than one per cent of what was stolen to a corporate group of a “large natural grouping” rather than to the rightful owners, extinguish all claims without addressing them, cede sovereignty to the Crown and leave claimants divided and traumatised.

Ngāti Kahu whānau start repossessing their lands including Rangiāniwaniwa and Takahue.

Te Rūnanga ā-Iwi-o Ngāti Kahu is mandated to progress claims, with the mandate reconfirmed at every Annual General Meeting. It now covers 10 additional claims.

The Waitangi Tribunals Muriwhenua (WAI 45) report upholds claims up to 1865 and signals it will make binding recommendations, with additional claims to be heard. The government threatens to abolish the Tribunal if it issues binding recommendations.

👉  Read the full WAI 45 Report here.

The Yellow Book of Ngāti Kahu is finalised, providing instructions to mandated negotiators. It records and details the lands of every hapū to be returned and becomes the foundational document for Ngāti Kahu’s settlement strategy.

Negotiations with the Government start.

The government puts Rangiputa on the market and negotiations fall through. In response some whānau and hapū repossess their own lands including Karikari, Maitai, Rangiputa, Kohumaru.

Ngāti Kahu applies to the Tribunal for binding reccomendations. What does this mean?:

State-Owned Enterprise, Crown forest and certain Education lands in Ngāti Kahu rohe are returned at no cost.

Compensation is given to Ngāti Kahu, calculated from the value of the trees in Crown forests (estimated at $14m).

Unextinguished native title remains – Ngāti Kahu will still have land rights over 137,000 hectares because those rights were never taken away.

Settlement can be negotiated once the lands are returned.

Ngāti Kahu Mana is upheld.

The Government strongly opposed this process, but was repeatedly overruled by the courts. It dragged out the Tribunal process and used the same tactics across the country, aggressively, pressuring iwi into quick settlements.

The Waitangi Tribunal refuses Ngāti Kahu’s application for binding recommendations and pushes the iwi back to direct negotiations with the Government. Around the same time, the Labour Government, facing an election loss, apologises for the behaviours of the Office of Treaty Settlement staff and promises to negotiate with Ngāti Kahu in a respectful way, instead of using forceful tactics.

Ngāti Kahu signs an Agreement in Principle (AIP) with the Crown. This is an early deal that sets out what the final settlement could look like, before everything is written into a full Deed of Settlement. Ngāti Kahu Agreed to this on the condition that all of their historical claims will be addressed.  It included four parts (in summary):

Apology – Crown to acknowledge and apologise for Treaty breaches.

Cultural Redress: Return of wāhi tapu, reserves, lakes and recognition of Ngāti Kahu’s Mana Whenua.

Financial and commercial redress – Compensation, plus an option to purchase Rangiputa Station at a discounted price.

Social revitalisation – Support for language, marae, and community development.

👉 Read the full Agreement in Principle

Te Hiku o Te Ika AIP is signed on the condition that settlement is partial; Ngāti Kahu whānau and hapū resolve to repossesing their lands according to tikanga.

The first draft of the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement is completed. A partial settlement would allow Ngāti Kahu to seek further redress for historical claims in the future. The Office of Treaty Settlements are unhappy with this, the judgetensions rise and aggressive  forceful tactics by the office resurface, the Government ultimately rejects the draft.

Ngāti Kahu reopens the application to the Waitangi Tribunal for binding recommendations.

The Waitangi Tribunal hears the application, however, the Government demands that the Tribunal only follow Crown settlement policy instead of using its binding recommendation powers. The Tribunal complies to the Government request.

The Waitangi Tribunal refuses to issue binding recommendations. Instead it makes non-binding recommendations that the Government settle Ngāti Kahu’s claims for the period between 1840 and 1865, and advise the Crown to make an offer to Ngāti Kahu. 

The Government puts forward an offer, which was much less than what the Tribunal recommended. It wanted the settlement to cover 152 years, up to 1992, and be treated as full and final:

Government wanted Ngāti Kahu claims to be legally extinguished, for them to be permanently settled. Meaning there is no chance of future redress.

Crown would keep 137,000 hectares of land of it stole as Ngāti Kahu must ‘gift’ it by removing all claims, allowing the government to be in control.

Ngāti Kahu must cede mana to the Crown.

If Ngāti Kahu take back no land, the Government will pay $23.4 million. Alternatively, if Ngāti Kahu choose to take back as much of the land offered as wanted, the Government will pay $0.

The Government decides which land to sell back to Ngāti Kahu and sets the value of that land. Ngāti Kahu can then choose from about 4,500 hectares to purchase ‘back’ from the Government.

The government will appoint Ngāti Kahu representatives to boards to advise local and central government departments in matters affecting Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Kahu land and territories (co-governance).

The government will effectively re-write Ngāti Kahu’s history and define who Ngāti Kahu is.

The offer is non-negotiable!

13 of 15 Ngāti Kahu marae reject the Governments offer and respond with a counter-offer of a partial settlement based on the previously submitted Deed of Partial Settlement. Two of the marae want full and final settlement. Some whānau continue repossessions of land including Kohumaru, Ōturu, Māheatai, Rangiāniwaniwa. 

Ngāti Kahu challenges the Tribunals approach and files in the High Court an application for judicial review of the Tribunals decision not to make binding recommendations.

The High Court finds the Tribunal made two legal errors, it treated its power to return lands (binding recommendations) as a last resort, and failed to consider whether part of the land could be returned. During the hearing the judge advises the Crown to return Ngāti Kahu lands and start negotiating a settlement. The government appeals this. 

The Court of Appeal upholds the High Court’s decision, confirming that the Tribunal must rehear the binding recommendations. The Tribunal was found to be wrong for urging Ngāti Kahu and the Government to negotiate settlements. 

A new Tribunal is appointed to avoid conflict of interests. 

Ngāti Kahu’s Deed of Partial Settlement is published and reprinted named ‘Ngāti Kahu – Portrait of a Sovereign Nation’. The book records hapū histories, tikanga, treaty claims, the governments offer, and Ngāti Kahu’s own full and partial settlement position.

👉 Purchase the book from Huia Publishers

The newly appointed Tribunal complies with the government demands that it re-start the claims inquiry and to delay any consideration of binding recommendations until all claims are heard and decided. This decision sets the process back by many years. 

The High Court declines Ngāti Kahu’s application, saying it was made too early and that the Tribunal must first make its own decision on binding recommendations. 

The Tribunal decides to merge Ngāti Kahu’s claims with all of Muriwhenua. Causing long delays and meaning Ngāti Kahu loses the chance to move forward alone. At the same time COVID hits. 

The Tribunal accepts earlier findings on events up to 1965 and agrees to draw on findings from other inquiries on generic issues such as the Native Land Court, land development schemes, rating, and the Public Works Act. This saves time, allowing Ngāti Kahu to focus on present whānau cases. The Tribunal also asks for critique of government treaty claims settlements. This research has been completed but needing to be written up.

The Tribunal commissions two research reports and four block history reports. The research reports are: 

👉 Social Issues Report for the Renewed Muriwhenua Land Inquiry

This report looks at how Muriwhenua communities have coped socially and economically since 2002. It covers issues like housing, employment, education, health, and income, showing that many inequalities for Māori in the Far North remain. It gives up to date evidence without Ngāti Kahu having to redo decades of research.

👉 Muriwhenua Environmental Issues 1840–2022

This report covers nearly two centuries of environmental change in Muriwhenua, including land use, deforestation, pollution, and loss of traditional resources. It highlights how Crown policies and development schemes damaged ecosystems and Māori ways of life. The findings give a detailed picture of environmental impacts, social and economic issues.

Crown Forestry Rentals Trust funds Ngāti Kahu research to expand on the Ngāti Kahu Portrait of a Sovereign Nation Book. 

Wānanga and interviews were recorded and transcribed, capturing kōrero on kaitiakitanga, He Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti, The Doctrine of Discovery, treaty claims settlement policy which are being added as new sections to the book. 

Ngāti Kahu whānau and hapū information is being added to the book. 

Other hapū reports have also been completed and published:

👉 Ben Leonard, ‘Te Paatu: Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga. Volume I – Historical Report’, February 2025 (Wai 45, #T26 & #T26(a)).

👉 Justin Maxwell and Jennifer Huebert, ‘Te Paatu: Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga. Volume II – Archaeological Report’, February 2025 (Wai 45, #T27 & #T27(a)).

👉 Ben Leonard, ‘Ngāti Tara: Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga. Volume I – Historical Report’, April 2025 (Wai 45, #T29 & #T29(a)).

👉 Justin Maxwell and Jennifer Huebert, ‘Ngāti Tara: Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga. Volume II – Archaeological Report’, April 2025 (Wai 45, #T30 & #T30(a)).