Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for August 2014
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement being worked on
2. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board Litigation Against Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services
3. Offer from Crown to fully and finally extinguish Ngāti Kahu’s claims
4. Progress towards publication of the Ngāti Kahu Deed of Partial Settlement
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
7. National Iwi Chairs’ Forum, Tuahiwi Marae, North Canterbury, 28-29 August
8. Rating of Māori land on Native Affairs
Summary:
Work has started on drafting the out of court settlement with Carrington Jade.
It has been a quiet month on the Ngāti Kahu Trust Board out of court settlement.
A final decision on the Crown’s offer continues to await the response of several marae.
Amendments to our Deed of Partial Settlement continue to be worked on prior to sending off to the publisher.
A timetable for hearing our application 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 agreed on.
A letter has been sent to the Federation of Māori Authorities and the New Zealand Māori Council briefing them on the government stealing our Crown Forestry rental monies.
We will attend the first day of National Iwi Chairs’ Forum on 28 August.
Māori Television’s Native Affairs programme interviewed me for an item on rating Māori land.
1. Appeal to the Supreme Court on Te Ana o Taite – out of court settlement being worked on
Work is continuing on the formal out of court settlement with Carrington Jade after they undertook to permanently protect Te Ana o Taite. We have agreed to contribute to the legal costs and to pay the disbursements of our legal team from Russell McVeagh so that this work can be completed.
2. Ngāti Kahu Trust Board v Ngāti Kahu Mortgage Services Ltd
The High Court agreed to an extension of time to complete the necessary work for an out of court settlement. We understand that the Trust Board is working on the drafts we provided.
3. Offer from Crown to fully and finally extinguish Ngāti Kahu’s claims
Several marae continue to indicate 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
Work has been continuing on changes to the final draft. We hope to send it to the publisher soon.
5. Judicial Review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Report – on-going
A timetable for the preparation and exchange of documents prior to hearing our application to the High Court has been agreed. This is for the 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. The hearing will not take place before the end of March 2015.
6. Crown Legislating to Steal Ngāti Kahu’s Forestry Rentals
We are hoping that the Federation of Māori Authorities and the New Zealand Māori Council will support us in trying to stop the government stealing our Crown Forestry rental monies. We have sent them letters requesting their support.
We have not received a response from our MP Hōne Harawira to our request for his help with this matter. This is not unexpected during the current pre-election cycle and we note a further set back with his recent car accident.
7. National Iwi Chairs’ Forum Tuahiwi Marae, North Canterbury, 28-29 August
Anthony Housham and I will be attending only the first day of this meeting in order to get back home in time for our marae and Rūnanga hui. Reports from the different Iwi Leaders’ Groups will be presented that day. We do not have the agenda papers yet so I will report on these at our Rūnanga hui on 30 August. Our CEO, Anahera Herbert-Graves, will be accompanying us in order to attend a communications hui being organized by Ngāi Tahu and run in parallel to the Forum hui.
8. Rating of Māori land on Native Affairs
I have received a number of positive comments about an interview Māori Television conducted with me for their Native Affairs programme on the rating of Māori land. They approached me because of difficulties being faced by a Māori land owners being threatened, harassed and bullied by the local council over unpaid rates. I explained the large number of reasons why, both morally and legally, Māori should not be paying rates on their ancestral lands. I also explained that many of us have not paid rates for many years and there is nothing legal that councils can do to make us pay them. As such we simply ignore any and all attempts councils make to engage with us about rates. I also advised that the use of debt collectors such as Baycorp to collect rates are simply intimidation tactics and can be countered by advising Baycorp that they cannot intervene because the debt is disputed.
Professor Margaret Mutu
24 August 2014