April 18, 2013
Treaty bills debated
Parliament held a special sitting this morning to consider treaty settlement bills for Ngāti Whatua ō Kaipara and Bay of Plenty-based, Waitaha.
Māori Affairs Minister, Pita Sharples, says the Waitaha story is that of an iwi who sought to uphold its mana but was almost destroyed by the cumulative effect of the Crown’s acts, omissions and breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.
He says the refusal of the ancestor, Hakaraia, to surrender when the Crown invaded its territory in the 1860s, lead to land confiscation and then further land loss through the Native Land Court.
A settlement signed in September 2011 will give Waitaha $7.5 million in commercial redress and cultural redress, including a $3 million education endowment fund in the name of Hakaraia Mahika.
The bill was referred to the select committee.
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