May 16, 2013
New tools needed post-settlement
A law firm that has worked with Māori treaty claimants is proposing new legal structures for post settlement government entities.
Baden Vertongen, the head of the Māori legal team at Chen Palmer, says the firm is putting together a Māori law toolbox which will contain ideas for suitable replacements for trusts or tribal corporates.
He says the current structures are a recipe for future problems.
"The type of post-settlement structures that Māori have has been directed into where we have developed to do things that come out of a Pakeha western legal idea. Things like trusts were set up around particular purposes for holding assets on behalf of other people. What they're not designed to do is the governance and representation role that entities are being asked to do as well," he says.
Baden Vertongen says post settlement government entities need to take into account the perpetual nature of the task.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd