December 21, 2012
Ngāti Koata ready to move on after token pay-out
Top of the South Island iwi Ngāti Koata and Te Atiawa ō Te Waka ā Maui have today signed treaty settlements worth $11.7 million each.
About 300 members of Ngāti Koata were at Whakatu Marae in Nelson to witness a line being drawn under their claims.
Ngāti Koata negotiator Roma Hippolite says after a long fight for justice for the loss of land in Nelson and Marlborough, they got a figure that is dwarfed by the $1.7 billion dollars. The Crown paid out to investors in failed South Canterbury Finance while it was crying poor during negotiations with iwi.
Their losses were significantly less than the losses of the iwi katoa but this is the process and this is the policy we are working under. It can't ever be called equitable but within the circumstances of the treaty settlement policy it is fair and let’s move on," he says.
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