Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for October 2015
1. High Court quashes Waitangi Tribunal report
2. Minister of Treaty Negotiations, OTS and government officials still causing problems
3. Official complaint against OTS staff – inadequate response received
4. Repossession of Kaitāia Airport in the District Court
5. Progress with publication of Deed of Partial Settlement
6. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services
Summary
· The High Court has now quashed the Waitangi Tribunal’s report declining us binding recommendations and has ordered it to rehear our application for binding recommendations.
· Minister of Treaty Negotiations Finlayson has continued to attack Ngāti Kahu through the media for not accepting his offer to extinguish all our treaty claims fully and finally, and continues to question the Rūnanga’s mandate. He is also querying our lengthy response to his letter questioning the Rūnanga’s mandate.
· The Minister has responded inadequately to our official complaint against a senior OTS staff member for interfering and having other government servants interfere in Ngāti Kahu’s treaty claims. He dismissively asserts that she has not done so.
· Patukōraha and Ngāi Tohianga repossessed the Kaitāia Airport at Rangiāniwaniwa to highlight the injustices against Ngāti Kahu being perpetrated in the legislation which extinguishes all the claims of Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Kurī. The NZ Police arrested six people, all but one being kuia and kaumātua, and charged them with trespassing on their own land. The matter is before the Kaitāia District Court.
· We continue working with Huia Publishers to prepare our Deed of Partial Settlement for publication.
· Ngāti Kahu Trust Board’s litigation is progressing towards settlement
1. Ngāti Kahu directs the High Court to quash Waitangi Tribunal report
The High Court has now quashed the Tribunal’s decision not to give us binding recommendations and ordered it to rehear our application for binding recommendations. However before the hearing can be scheduled our appeal to the Court of Appeal against the sections of the High Court decision that are in error must be heard and decided. We are waiting for the Court of Appeal to schedule a hearing. Our lawyers are also still pursuing costs from the government as directed by the High Court.
2. Minister of Treaty Negotiations, OTS and government officials still causing problems
Minister Finlayson has continued his media campaign of instructing Ngāti Kahu to get rid of our current leadership. Ngāti Kahu individuals who have been working with OTS have been assisting him although it is notable that none of these individuals actually has a well-founded claim themselves. Neither have they attended the large number of hui-ā-iwi we have held about our land claims.
As a result there has been a very strong backlash against the minister and these individuals.
That has included public statements from those who do have claims, and from mandated hapū and marae representatives. They have publicly instructed the Minister to stop interfering in Ngāti Kahu and have reminded him that he and his most unreasonable, unfair and unjust offer is the sole cause for Ngāti Kahu refusing to be railroaded into a government determined settlement for less than 1 cent in the dollar of what was stolen. I have attached their press release to this report.
Minister Finlayson has also responded to our very lengthy response to his letter questioning the Rūnanga’s mandate.
Our response was circulated to all marae but we received an official information request from the Office of Treaty Settlements for them to be allowed to release it – which we allowed. Finlayson’s response to it asks a series of questions, the answers to which are already in our lengthy response. This is the paper war section of our war against the government and we will simply keep responding.
3. Official complaint against OTS staff – inadequate response received
Minister Finlayson has furthermore responded inadequately to our official complaint against a senior OTS staff member for interfering and having other government servants interfere in Ngāti Kahu’s treaty claims. He dismissively and patronizingly asserts that she has not done so and provides no evidence to support that assertion.
4. Patukōraha and Ngāi Tohianga repossess Kaitāia Airport
Patukōraha and Ngāi Tohianga repossessed the Kaitāia Airport at Rangiāniwaniwa to highlight the injustices against Ngāti Kahu being perpetrated in the legislation which extinguishes all the claims of Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Kurī. The NZ Police arrested six people, all but one being kuia and kaumātua, and charged them with trespassing on their own land. The matter is before the Kaitāia District Court.
The police request for a restorative justice approach was overruled by an instruction from Wellington, with the police prosecutor denying in court on 22 October that the police had made any such request. The judge clarified that the police had made the request although there was nothing he could do about it when they went back on their word. As such five not guilty pleas were entered and an arrest warrant was issued for kaumātua Selwyn Clark who refuses to acknowledge that the police or the court can evict him from his own land. In terms of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni 1835 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, he is certainly correct. However we know well that the Pākehā courts ignore those constitutional documents.
The next hearing is for a case review (a review of all the relevant facts in the case) and the treaty claims negotiations team will be providing written expert evidence on Ngāti Kahu’s treaty claims. It is set down for hearing on 16 December.
5. Progress with Publication of the Deed of Partial Settlement – Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation
Work on finalizing the maps has involved checking huge amounts of detail and has taken up a lot of Huia Pacey’s and my time this month. The publishers asked us to reshoot many of the old photos we had because they must be high resolution.
We now have photos of all our marae and a number of good landscape shots in most hapū’s territories. I am still reviewing the entire manuscript to check that all requested amendments have been made.
6. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board v Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd
Work continues on finalizing the documentation to conclude this matter.
Professor Margaret Mutu
2 November 2015
NGATI KAHU TE IWI
MEDIA RELEASE – MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2015
Ngati Kahu’s head claimants and marae leaders have spoken out about the failure of the government to settle their claims fairly and fully.
“Ngati Kahu will never receive a fair offer to settle our claims under the current government and not with the current Minister for Treaty Negotiations who walked away from negotiations with Ngati Kahu when he didn’t get his way.” [Timoti Flavell of Karikari marae and Head Claimant for Ngati Kahu]
“This Minister has for some time sought to undermine the Runanga and its leadership and that has become more pronounced with Ngati Kahu’s marae refusing to fall in line with Crown settlement policy and our recent victory in the High Court which will require the Waitangi Tribunal to revisit its flawed decision not to grant binding recommendations in favour of Ngati Kahu.” [Tania Thomas of Mangataiore marae]
“His actions, which include the giving away of Ngati Kahu’s interests in Takahue forest to another iwi, clearly portray a Minister who has no respect for our mana whenua or rangatiratanga.” [Zarrah Pineaha of Takahue marae]
“The failure to achieve a settlement is down to the Government and this Minister’s spitefulness and not due to any failures or fault by Ngati Kahu or the Runanga and its leadership.” [Hohepa Rameka of Kareponia marae]
“What’s required is a Government and a Minister who wants to do more than pay lip-service to the Treaty Settlement process and wants to provide real and meaningful redress to aggrieved whanau, hapu and iwi.” [Lloyd Popata – Head Claimant for Pikaahu]
“Unfortunately this Minister and Government just want us to tick their settlement box so they can then whistle out the same old meaningless rhetoric at press conferences about how wonderful they are to provide redress of 1c on the dollar.” [Hully Clarke – Head Claimant for Te Paatu]
“There will always be unscrupulous individuals who are happy to have their hands out to accept the pennies that the Crown offer and there are individuals within our iwi that unfortunately fit that description. They cannot be controlled and are often the people that the Government, this Minister and his crony officials will run to when they can’t get their way.” [Steve Lloyd – Head Claimant for Kenana marae]
“This Minister has failed to grasp that the real leaders of Ngati Kahu are the marae, and we have clearly rejected the Crown’s offer as full and final.” [Trudy Allen of Karepori marae]
“This Government is delusional if it thinks it can give away our lands under Kaitaia airport to another iwi and then expect us to accept its offer as full and final.” [John Popata of Oturu marae]
“Luckily the current government’s mandate and this Minister’s warrant won’t last forever. However, Ngati Kahu’s rangatiratanga will last forever.” [Reremoana Renata of Waiaua marae]