Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for May 2016
1. Progress with publication of Deed of Partial Settlement
2. The Paparahi o te Raki claim
3. Waitangi Tribunal’s report on the government’s Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
4. National Iwi Chairs Forum hui 4-5 May in Rotorua
5. The Monitoring Mechanism’s report for the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
6. Court of Appeal date for binding recommendations application set for 20 July
7. Repossession of Kaitāia Airport in the District Court
8. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services
Summary
· Our book Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation, our Deed of Partial Settlement, is being copy edited. 28 photos have been deleted.
· The Waitangi Tribunal released a draft historical report for the Whangaroa rohe which we are responding to.
· The Waitangi Tribunal issued its report on the TPPA which was highly critical of the government but rather puzzlingly, found that there had been no breach of the treaty.
· National Iwi Chairs’ Forum was held at Te Puia (the New Zealand Māori Arts and Craft Institute) on Fenton St, Rotorua on 4 and 5 May. The first item on the agenda, Moana Jackson speaking about his constitutional transformation report, was well received.
· The Monitoring Mechanism of National Iwi Chairs Forum is preparing a report for the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the need for the government’s Treaty claims settlement process to be urgently reviewed and reformed; its refusal to consult Māori about the TPPA and the refusal to allow Māori adequate decision making powers in local government.
· The Court of Appeal has set 20 July as the hearing date for our (and Mangatū Incorporation’s) appeals in respect of the Waitangi Tribunal not making binding recommendations.
· 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 Rūnanga appointed two interim trustees for Ngāti Kahu’s farm at Taipā three months ago but have still not heard who the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board’s two appointees are.
1. Progress with publication of Deed of Partial Settlement
Our book Ngāti Kahu: Portrait of a Sovereign Nation is still being copy edited, that is, editors are going through it to make sure that it reads smoothly. Once the copy editing is returned to me I will add in any changes that need to be made.
All but two of the photos have been completed. The publisher requested that the number of photos be reduced so 28 have been deleted either because they were repeats or almost identical, or not good enough quality.
2. Te Paparahi o te Raki claim
The Waitangi Tribunal has circulated a draft historical report for the Whangaroa rohe that has some problematic areas for us in respect of Matarahurahu’s and Pikaahu’s claims. We are preparing a response to it.
3. Waitangi Tribunal’s report on the government’s Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
The Waitangi Tribunal very hurriedly produced its report on the TPPA. It was disappointing in that although it was highly critical of the government for not consulting with Māori and the likely implications and negative impacts it will have for Māori, its hurried conclusion did not find that there had been a breach of the treaty.
4. National Iwi Chairs Forum hui 4-5 May
A large contingent of Ngāti Kahu kuia and kaumātua attended this hui in Rotorua with me.
Overall this was a better hui than previous ones. Toby Curtis chaired it well and it seems that more of the chairs are understanding the importance of constitutional transformation work. Moana Jackson’s presentation on this was well received and the younger chairs are starting to be more vocal. He is taking his report around the country and starting to talk with non-Māori groups. I am also giving talks on it and delivered a paper at Otago University and then in Hawai’i at the Native Indian and Indigenous Studies Association international conference.
There was a good report on efforts being made to make sure that Māori sportspeople are adequately funded. There was also a very good presentation from one of the National Science Challenge teams which is looking at practical ways to improve the health of our children.
It is becoming more obvious that the government is seriously abusing its powers. We received a report indicating it rejected outright Judge Henwood’s proposal of a covenant for the protection of children; it’s dragging its feet on writing a letter of support for the bronze whatarangi to be gifted to the United Nations because the purpose of the whatarangi is to acknowledge Māori support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP); it’s also dragging its feet on freshwater and sending the Freshwater Iwi Leaders’ Group in circles; and it’s refusing to entertain a relationship between the Minister of Conservation and iwi consistent with Section 4 of the Conservation Act. Furthermore, the group of Māori statisticians working on data sovereignty warned of moves by government to get information on iwi members from Iwi Authorities through some very underhanded legislative changes currently being undertaken.
I spent some time with some of these statisticians last week in Hawai’i and asked them to stay ahead of the government and keep us all in the loop so we can protect ourselves.
The last Rūnanga meeting asked me to raise three issues in the Forum hui: Ngāti Kahu’s opposition to Helen Clark’s application to be Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ngāti Kahu’s opposition to Rangitāhua (the Kermadecs) being set aside as a Marine Protected Area; Ngāti Kahu’s refusal to allow tūpāpaku to be disposed of in our seas.
On Helen Clark, although at least some chairs had received personal requests to write letters of support for her, they didn’t say anything about that when the matter was raised. Moana Jackson spoke on it (he’d received a letter and sent back an immediate response that he would never support her). He reminded the Forum that other indigenous people look to Māori for leadership on indigenous issues and we’d look stupid supporting someone who was and remains so vehemently opposed to UNDRIP.
The Rangitāhua matter turned out to be a non-issue – contrary to media reports, Ngāti Kurī does agree that everyone’s rights have to be pursued and they support the litigation being taken against the government on this matter by Te Ohu Kaimoana.
The matter of the Environmental Protection Authority having designated Ngāti Kahu seas as an area for disposing of tūpāpaku came as a shock to the Forum. We will provide a report and it will be discussed at the next Forum meeting in August in Tainui.
Haami Piripi, chair of Te Rarawa, tried to assert that the Forum represents all Māori. He was told it does not in very clear terms by several chairs. Despite that he spoke to Te Kāea, the Māori Television news programme, implying that everyone had agreed with him. Unfortunately for him Te Kāea interviewed several other chairs who all said no.
For Items 5 – 8 please see the summary above.
Professor Margaret Mutu
23 May 2016