February 01, 2013
Funding for massive Northland hearings in doubt
The Waitangi Tribunal has taken the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to task for creating uncertainty about funding for stage two of the Te Paparahi ō Te Raki regional inquiry into Northland claims.
The hearings are due to start on March 18.
Judge Craig Coxhead, the head of the panel hearing the claims, says claimants and the tribunal were only notified a few days before Christmas that the trust had put off the decision on funding
The tribunal will proceed on the assumption the Trustees will approve funding at their next meeting on February 12.
If not the hearings will be postponed.
Planning for the hearings started more than two years ago, and the tribunal intends to hold a total of 21 weeks of hearings.
Without guaranteed funding, the hearings might have to be stretched over four or five years, and hearings in other districts will also be affected.
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