Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for March 2016
1. Still awaiting Court of Appeal date for binding recommendations application
2. Still awaiting response from Minister of Treaty Negotiations
3. Repossession of Kaitāia Airport in the District Court
4. Progress with publication of Deed of Partial Settlement
5. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services
6. Claim to Waitangi Tribunal against government’s Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
Summary
· We continue to wait for a hearing date from the Court of Appeal in respect of the Waitangi Tribunal not making binding recommendations.
· We continue to wait for a response from the Minister of Treaty Negotiations to our response concerning
o our formal complaint against staff of the Office of Treaty Settlements
o the Minister’s on-going attempts to impose the settlement that Ngāti Kahu has rejected.
· The hearing date for the six Patukōraha, Ngāi Tohianga and Te Paatu people arrested for trespassing on their own ancestral lands at Rangiāniwaniwa will be discussed in a judicial teleconference on 26 May with a hearing likely in July.
· The book contract for our book Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation, our Deed of Partial Settlement, has been signed with Huia Publishers and publication work is underway.
· The Rūnanga appointed two interim trustees for Ngāti Kahu’s farm at Taipā.
· The Waitangi Tribunal’s hearing on the government’s refusal to consult over its TPPA took place in the week of March 7.
For items 1), 2) and 3) please see the summary above.
4. Progress with Publication of the Deed of Partial Settlement – Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation
I have signed the book contract for our book Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation, our Deed of Partial Settlement, with Huia Publishers. Publication work is now underway. The estimated publication date is March 2017.
An editor is working on the chapters and will let me know what improvements are needed. I expect she will recommend that our hapū korero be trimmed back in places because it is too long.
The Design Executive has reviewed the photographs for the book. He has indicated that while a large number are of publication quality, particularly those of people, there are a number that need reshooting, and some that will be removed. These photos almost all relate to the hapū korero and he has asked for additional images for the other chapters as well. I am willing there to be good weather so that I can complete the reshoots and take some new photos of lands to be relinquished by the government.
5. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board v Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd
The Rūnanga finalised the appointment of two interim trustees from the marae who are mana whenua in the Taipā farm, Karepōri marae and Ko Te Āhua marae. They are Trudy Allen and Julie Rickit. We are now waiting on the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board to make their appointments of interim trustees so that the out of court settlement can be implemented.
6. Claim to Waitangi Tribunal against government’s Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
We are an interested party (rather than a claimant) to this claim. Hearings took place in the week of 7 March and we were represented by Te Kani Williams and Alana Thomas. As expected the government refused to admit any wrong doing despite the fact that under the TPPA it is giving wide-ranging rights to overseas companies to exploit our resources without our permission, denying us our human rights and right to self-determination.
Professor Margaret Mutu
26 March 2016