Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for September 2019
1. Waitangi Tribunal – preparing to resume hearing
2. National Iwi Chairs Forum – Hastings 27-28 August
3. Māori Television documentary The Negotiators
Summary
• The Waitangi Tribunal has acknowledged that Margaret Mutu and Reremoana Rēnata are now joint head claimants for Ngāti Kahu.
• We attended the hui of National Iwi Chairs Forum held on 27-28 August in Hastings. Key topics covered included fresh water, the climate crisis, the 2018 census debacle, the Ministry of Children’s poor performance, Whānau Ora, manuka honey, banning retail trucks, the Forum-Crown Statement of Engagement and Wai262.
• A five-part documentary on the treaty claims settlement process started on Māori TV on 2 September.
2. National Iwi Chairs Forum – Hastings 27-28 August
A large contingent from Ngāti Kahu attended the Ngāti Kahungunu hosted Forum hui in August. It included Reremoana Rēnata, Claire Stensness, Ani Mānuera, Mal Hekeua-Hack, Kataraina Rhind, Bobby Morunga, Yvonne Puriri, Ruth Murray, Ānahera Herbert-Graves, Anthony Housham and me with rangatahi reps Zarrah Pineaha, James Holt, Alton Hohaia and several others. It was quite a scramble trying to read the documentation that we did not receive until the morning of the hui but several of our team pitched in to make sure we covered it as best we could. A number of important matters were raised.
Freshwater: The Forum has given up trying to engage with the Crown about the ownership of water. The Waitangi Tribunal has issued yet another excellent report on fresh water confirming that in terms of our Tiriti rights, Māori own the water and the Crown must jointly administer and manage it with us as its owners. The Crown’s refusal to do so leaves the way open for the courts to intervene. The Freshwater group is considering its options in this regard.
Climate Crisis: The Crown’s unsatisfactory response to the climate crisis with its Zero Carbon Bill resulted in the Climate Change chair, Mike Smith, taking legal action against the Crown with the help of a number of environmental lawyers working pro bono. Mike reported that as soon as he filed the legal action, the Crown wanted to talk to him. He asked that each iwi nominate a person who can liaise with the Climate Change group.
Data: Statistics NZ has been dodging meeting with our Data experts after the disastrous 2018 census that only 68 per cent of Māori completed. Our Data experts had warned Statistics NZ, but they refused to listen.
They are now trying to collect information on Māori from other government at sources, although ideally, they should re-run the census. At long last the Chief Statistician has resigned.
Ministry for Children: There was a tense face-off between the chair of Pou Tangata, Dame Naida Glavish, and the Minister for Children, Tracey Martin over the poor performance of her ministry. There is some hope that new legislative amendments will improve this situation.
Whānau Ora: There is significant disappointment that funding designated for Whānau Ora is being diverted once again into government departments.
Pou Tāhua: The government’s definition of Manuka honey remains problematic and needs sorting out urgently. Pou Tāhua has been working with Mayan Melipona beekeepers and are inviting them to visit. They asked the government to issue an invitation as well. The Forum confirmed the urgency of banning retail trucks and restricting interest rates to the Official Cash Rate plus 10 per cent.
Pou Tikanga: The Forum approved the Statement of Engagement between National Iwi Chairs Forum and the Crown. Kelvin Davis accepted it on behalf of the government. It is now operational which means that ministers will direct government officials to communicate with Forum working groups and chairs strictly in accordance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi. That does mean retraining officials. The Ministry for Māori-Crown Relations is responsible for this and already, Pou Tikanga has identified serious short-comings in their training programme.
While we gave Kelvin some clear ground rules for the training programme which he agreed were common sense, mā te wā ka kitea…it remains to be seen whether the public service will rid itself of its deeply ingrained racism.
National Plan of Action: The Forum congratulated Nanaia Mahuta on progress in establishing a working group to work on a National Plan of Action to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Claire Charters, the Ngāti Whakaue member of Pou Tikanga’s Monitoring Mechanism, is the chair of the working group.
Wai 262: Nanaia advised that the Crown has finally agreed to start talking about the Flora, Fauna and Intellectual Property claim. Ngāti Koata has picked up this kaupapa for the Forum.
3. Māori Television documentary The Negotiators
Māori Television has been broadcasting the documentary The Negotiators on the experiences of negotiators in the treaty claims settlement process. The first three episodes were about Ngāi Tahu, Te Roroa and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa. They are well worth watching.
Here’s the first episode from 2 September (without the ads) – Ngāi Tahu – Tīpene O’Regan https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/negotiators/S01E001/negotiators-ep...
Here’s the second from 9 September (without ads) – Te Roroa – Alex Nathan https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/negotiators/S01E002/negotiators-ep...
Here’s the third from 16 September (without ads) – Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa – Ella Henry
https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/negotiators/S01E003/negotiators-ep...
Professor Margaret Mutu
20 September 2019