January 03, 2013
Ministers call on Ngapuhi to stop fighting
The ministers of treaty negotiations and Māori affairs have urged Ngāpuhi factions to find a way to work together.
Chris Finlayson and Pita Sharples wrote to the Ngāpuhi Rūnanga sub-committee Tuhoronuku and its rival Te Kotahitanga after Te Kotahitanga refused to sign on to a work plan aimed at getting settlement talks started soon after Waitangi Day.
They proposed a number of changes, including cutting the number of rūnanga representatives on the planned Independent Mandated Authority from two to one.
Senior officials from the Office of Treaty Settlements have also come north to assess the problem and to outline the principles behind the government’s approach.
Te Kotahitanga co-chair Pita Tipene told acting OTS director Kevin Kelly the principles, if agreed to by Tuhoronuku, would provide a stable platform for talks.
Tuhoronuku spokesperson Kipa Munro says his group agreed in principle with proposals put forward by the ministers.
Meanwhile, doubt has been cast over stage two of the Waitangi Tribunal's inquiry into Ngāpuhi’s claims with the Crown Forestry Rental Trust declining to approve a request to fund claimants for the first seven weeks hearings, which are due to start on 17th March.
Trust chair Angela Foulkes says trustees will reconsider the request in February.
Lawyer Moana Tuwhare, who heads the Counsel Co-ordinating Committee, has written to the tribunal warning that raises serious questions about the claimants’ ability to prepare for and host the hearings.
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