Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for July 2014
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement proposal still 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. Comments being received on the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report – awaiting Tribunal and Crown responses
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
7. The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples meeting in Geneva 7-11 July
Summary:
We have received an amended offer from Carrington Jade to settle this matter out of court which agrees to the conditions we stipulated.
We have agreed to an extension of time to allow the litigation taken by the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd to be settled out of court.
A final decision on the Crown’s offer awaits the response of several marae.
Amendments to our Deed of Partial Settlement are still being received and included.
The Crown’s response to our statement of claim to the High Court for a judicial review of 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 received.
A formal written request has been sent to our MP, Hōne Harawira, asking him to help us prevent the government stealing our Crown Forestry rental monies.
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement proposal still under discussion
We discussed this matter at length in our last Rūnanga hui (see minutes). We resolved to let the Supreme Court know it would probably be settled out of court provided Te Ana o Taite was permanently protected. Carrington Jade has advised us that they will arrange for an encumbrance on the title preventing any development on the ana. The Supreme Court has been advised. We are now working on a formal out of court settlement.
2. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board v Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd
Our lawyers are continuing with drafting up the necessary documentation to implement the settlement of this litigation and discussing it with the Trust Board’s lawyers. We have agreed to an extension of the court deadline to achieve this.
3. Offer from Crown to fully and finally extinguish Ngāti Kahu’s claims
Several marae indicated at our last Rūnanga hui that they have not yet decided what to do about the Crown’s offer.
4. Work on publication of the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement continues
The final draft of this is almost completed and will be resent to the publisher. Many thanks to all who have sent in changes. I will send each of you your particular sections to check before they go to the publisher.
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report – on-going
We have received the Crown’s response to this application and met with our barrister for this case, Royden Hinden, to discuss the approach we will take. Te Kani Williams is briefing Royden.
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
Hōne Harawira attended our last Rūnanga hui and asked for a formal written request for him to look into this matter. He will then let us know whether he will support us. We have provided him with that information. We will also be asking the other Māori MPs to assist us.
7. The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) meeting in Geneva 7-11 July
Anthony Housham and I attended this meeting. On the way there I spent time at the University of London talking to people who have worked closely on Indigenous issues in the United Nations for many years. They are very interested in the work we are doing on transforming the country’s constitution and offered to help. They are also very concerned to make sure that Indigenous people are well acquainted with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
At the Geneva meeting many Indigenous groups from all over the world were represented and insisting that states (governments) do more to address the injustices perpetrated against them. We heard many horror stories of atrocities being committed.
EMRIP conducted a survey late last year of states and Indigenous peoples in order to ascertain how well states were complying with the UNDRIP. The New Zealand government said they comply with it. Unfortunately no Māori group completed the survey and so the government’s assertion went unchallenged. It is clear that the New Zealand government is not complying with any of UNDRIP and needs to be brought to account. The NZ Human Rights Commission was at the meeting asking that National Iwi Chairs’ Forum set up a monitoring group to assess the government’s compliance.
We met with the New Zealand government delegation to let them know that Māori are strongly opposed to the treaty claims settlement process and that they need to stop claiming in the United Nations that it is a success story and recommending it for other Indigenous peoples’ claims.
There was extensive debate on the upcoming World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in September. The conference is being convened by states to talk about Indigenous peoples and Indigenous representatives have had great difficulty being included in the conference and having a say in what is discussed about us. We received an initial statement issued by states about the conference that is very disappointing. It appears that the New Zealand government will hand-pick those Māori who will attend the conference. Others are trying to get there but are having difficulty registering and may not be allowed to talk anyway. The fear is that states will try to claw back the gains made in UNDRIP.
Professor Margaret Mutu
21 July 2014