Listen Now: 
Another batch of treaty settlements has been passed into law, with one Maori MP questioning if they are big enough to be sustainable.
Ngati Rangiwewehi, Tapuika and Ngati Rangiteaorere completed their historic settlements with small packages of cash and land, in addition to what they have already shared in overall Te Arawa claims.
There was also the third reading of the settlement for Maungaharuru-Tangitu, covering a cluster of Ngati Kahungunu hapu to the north of Napier.
The hapu will share $23 million in financial and commercial redress.
Labour’s Maori affairs spokesperson Shane Jones says while the Maori Fisheries Commission insisted Ngati Kahungunu have just one fisheries settlement body, in the land claims the iwi has chosen to negotiate on a hapu basis.
"You know it’s a political judgment. Is an iwi better served by having four or five sub-iwi units to receive a settlement or just one big over-arching unit. Kahungunu have broken themselves up. I'm not sure if that is going to serve them most effectively as time rolls on, but they made their choice and it's up to the mokopunas to determine whether this current batch of leaders made the right choice," he says.
Copyright © 2014, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
