October 04, 2012
Tuhoronuku wanting mandate to be accepted
The chair of Te Runanga o Ngapuhi says the Northland iwi is being held to a different standard than other treaty claimants.
Sonny Tau says the runanga set up to negotiate a settlement, Te Roopu o Tuhoronuku, has overwhelmingly rejected a report by Crown facilitator Tukoroirangi Morgan recommending changes to its structure.
Mr Tau says in last year’s mandating poll 76 percent of Ngapuhi voters backed Tuhoronuku, so the Crown should accept it in the same way it has accepted other controversial mandates.
“In Ngati Porou’s case, only the members of the Ngati Porou Runanga were able to vote for the mandate and out of that they got something like a 42 percent majority and they were allowed to go ahead and negotiate, so this crown or the minister is playing games with Ngapuhi, the Runanga and Te Roopu o Tuhoronuku has had enough,” he says.
Tuhoronuku refused to meet with Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson yesterday because the dissenting Te Kotahitanga group would have also been at the hui.