Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu Land Claims Portfolio
Report for December 2018 – January 2019
1. Appointment of new Head Claimants
2. Waitangi Tribunal - judicial review
3. National Iwi Chairs Forum
Summary
• Professor Margaret Mutu and Reremoana Rēnata have been appointed joint head claimants for Ngāti Kahu.
• Our legal team has been preparing for the hearing of the judicial review of the Waitangi Tribunal for not making binding recommendations. It is set down for 21-22 February 2019.
• National Iwi Chairs Forum will meet at Waitangi 30 January to 1 February.
1. Appointment of New Head Claimants
Following the passing of our head claimant, Archdeacon Tīmoti Flavell, we have replaced him with Professor Margaret Mutu and Reremoana Rēnata. Tīmoti’s replacement was discussed at the last Rūnanga hui in December. We then conducted a poll of the marae representatives after the High Court indicated it needed to know who the head claimant is before Christmas. The poll supported the suggestions made at the December hui.
2. Waitangi Tribunal - judicial review
The Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to ignore the Court of Appeal’s direction to make binding recommendations is proceeding on the 21st and 22nd of February in Wellington High Court. The only parties who are involved are Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu on behalf of the head claimants, the Crown, the Tribunal (but not actively except to provide the Record of Inquiry through counsel) and Tina Latimer as an intervenor. None of the other complainants in the Tribunal (apart from Tina) have sought to be involved despite earlier indications that they wanted to be. We are at the stage of filing submissions which are due on the 28th of January. The Crown and the intervenor will file later but prior to the hearing. Royden Hindle and Coral Linstead-Panoho will appear on the first day and I will join them on the second day (returning from overseas).
3. National Iwi Chairs Forum – hui at the Copthorne Hotel, Waitangi 30 January – 1 February 2019
Ngāi Takoto is hosting this National Iwi Chairs’ Forum at Waitangi. We do not yet have the agenda papers. On 30 January, the day before the formal Forum meeting, I am aware that there is an Asset Holding Companies meeting (although I have no details). At 4-6pm that day, the government’s Interim Climate Change Commission group is meeting in Treaty 1 Room of the Copthorne Hotel. The Forum has Lisa Tumahai (Ngāi Tahu’s chair) on that body and Mike Smith (the Forum’s Climate Change chair) has asked us to attend.
The draft agenda indicates that on the first full meeting day of the Forum (Thursday) each of the four Pou will provide their reports. For Te Pou Tikanga, that I chair, we will run a workshop on how to apply the Tiriti Partnership Framework we approved in November (see below) to monitor the government’s performance.
I will also report on the meetings we have had with Nanaia on 04 December and then with Kelvin on 28 January about this framework. The meeting with Nanaia was very good and our technicians and her officials were sent away to develop the framework. That work is on-going. I will report on the meeting with Kelvin at our hui on 2 February.
I will also report on the third United Nations Universal Periodic Review of New Zealand conducted by the United Nations Human Rights Council this week. The Forum’s Monitoring Mechanism sent in a paper to the Council outlining some of the government’s human rights violations against Māori. Andrew Little represented the government. Eighty countries took part and made recommendations on how New Zealand should improve its human rights performance, especially in respect of Māori. Several countries recommended that because the government’s treatment of Māori continues to breach human rights standards, it must make a greater effort to adhere to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Andrew Little admitted that colonization has and continues to cause significant and unacceptable problems for Māori. He indicated that the government was hoping to work with Māori to start fixing them up. Mā te wā (time will tell).
Ahorangi Margaret Mutu
24 January 2019