September 11, 2014
FOMA wary on land law reform
The heads of some of Maoridom’s biggest land trusts have joined an expert advisory panel to help the Federation of Maori Authorities develop its submissions on the review of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.
Up to now the Iwi Leaders group has had the inside running on the review, which was instigated by Attorney General and Associate Maori Affairs Minister Christopher Finlayson.
The expert panel includes FOMA chair Traci Houpapa, and the chairs of the Morikaunui, Wakatu and Wi Pere Trusts among others.
Wakatu chair Paul Morgan says the review is a chance to get things right, because there were missed opportunities in 1993.
He says the Government wants to address productivity and performance across the entire Maori land estate, but the focus of the reform seems to be on the unmanaged estate, which comprises about 16,000 titles and approximately 300,000 hectares.
A lot of these are small blocks which struggle to be economic, and care is needed that changes toi the way they are managed is not at the expense of the rest of the estate, which is five to six times larger and at various levels of productivity.
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