Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti KahuLand Claims Report for April 2014
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement proposal under discussion
2. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Agreement to Settle Their Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd being implemented
3. Offer from Crown to fully and finally extinguish Ngāti Kahu’s claims
4. Work on publication of the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement continues
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report – statement of claim completed
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
Summary:
Discussions are underway concerning the proposal from Carrington Farms’ new owners, Shanghai Cred, for an out of court settlement. It includes not building on Te Ana o Taite
Our Rūnanga lawyers are continuing with the legal work needed to implement the agreement by the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board to settle the litigation it took in the High Court against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd.
A final decision on the Crown’s offer awaits the response of several marae.
Work on preparing our Deed of Partial Settlement for publication is continuing.
The statement of claim to the High Court for a judicial review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s refusal to issue binding recommendations or to review the deeds of settlement of Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa and Ngāi Takoto has been completed.
The government has advised that it will pass legislation so that it can steal our Crown Forestry rental monies.
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement proposal has been received
Following the receipt of a proposal from Carrington Farms’ new owners, Shanghai Cred, to settle out of court the legal action we have taken against the company, discussions have started within Te Whānau Moana hapū. There are some areas that Carrington Farms still needs to address, such as the closure of the road through the ana, but their agreement not to build on Te Ana o Taite is a huge relief. Other matters they are proposing are still under consideration by Te Whānau Moana. We will discuss them in our Rūnanga hui on 26 April.
2. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Agrees to Settle Their Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd
Following on from the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board’s agreement in principle to settle their litigation out of court, our lawyers are continuing with drafting up the necessary documentation to implement the settlement and discussing it with the Trust Board’s lawyers. This includes drafting the trust deed for the new Ngāti Kahu Taipā Farm Trust which will take over ownership of our farm at Taipā. The trustees of the new trust will be appointed by each of our 15 marae.
3. Offer from Crown to fully and finally extinguish Ngāti Kahu’s claims
We are waiting on the response of several marae before we make a decision on the Crown’s offer. Queries are continuing to come in so we need to keep discussing this matter at our next hui.
4. Work on publication of the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement continues
Part of our Deed of Partial Settlement is our Yellow Book. Over the past month I have been revising our Yellow Book to bring it into line with McCully Matiu’s overall claim and the Muriwhenua Land Report 1997 from the Waitangi Tribunal. I’ve also added in Te Paatu’s claims up to Hukatere and listed the very large blocks the Crown stole such as the 8,900 hectare Mangōnui block, the 5,949 hectare Ōrūrū block and the 13,017 hectare Awanui to Kaitāia blocks. I have also edited out a lot of the legal detail we included on the structure of bodies that will receive the lands that the Crown relinquishes.
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report – on-going
The statement of claim to the High Court for a judicial review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s refusal to issue binding recommendations or to review the deeds of settlement of Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa and Ngāi Takoto has now been completed. It focuses on the errors of law made by the Tribunal in its 2012 and 2013 decisions. These include not inquiring into the deeds of settlement which cut Ngāti Kahu out of more than 9,000 hectares of land that we share mana whenua with those other iwi, namely our lands at Hukatere, Te Oneroa-ā-Tōhē and Takahue. It also focuses on the Tribunal’s refusal to make binding recommendations over lands that include Rangiputa, Kohumaru and Ōtangaroa and its error in giving preference to the government’s treaty claims policy over its own legislation. It highlights the fact that the Tribunal has deprived Ngāti Kahu of our legal rights and forced us into a position that unless we accept the Crown determined full and final settlement, the Crown will ensure that Ngāti Kahu gets nothing at all – even though all our claims were upheld. That is a serious violation of our legal right under Pākehā law to binding recommendations and to natural justice.
Of course the solutions in terms of tikanga and Te Tiriti include repossessing our lands. Several whānau and hapū have already taken action on this front and others are discussing it.
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
We have received a letter from Minister of Treaty Settlements Finlayson advising that the government intends to pass legislation that will transfer all of Ngāti Kahu’s accumulated rentals held by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to the Public Trust until such time as Ngāti Kahu agrees to the Crown-determined full and final settlement of all our claims. In other words the government is now writing legislation to steal the accumulated rentals that we have earned and to stop Ngāti Kahu receiving anything, including support from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust that we are entitled to, until we kowtow to their political whim. This is a very serious abuse of their parliamentary powers and apart from the criminal nature of the theft it is also shameless bullying.
It is exactly this type of behavior that demonstrates how urgent it is for constitutional transformation to take place that will prevent governments from legalizing their criminal activities whenever they feel like doing so. We have advised the High Court of this scurrilous behavior in our statement of claim for a judicial review.
Professor Margaret Mutu
16 April 2014