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The Waitangi Tribunal has ducked the issue of hearing claims to water rights until next year.
It has turned down a request by claimants for stage 2 hearings this year, and instead agreed to a crown request that it wait until consultation on water reform is finished, which will be February 2016 at the earliest.
After the stage one hearing, sparked by the sell-down of shares in state owned power generators, the crown has talked to the Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group about how Maori rights to water can be identified and recognised.
But it has frozen out the main claimant, the New Zealand Maori Council.
Council lawyer Donna Hall says the tribunal has agreed the Water Claim remains a priority.
That means hearings should go ahead after consultation finishes next February, and before the crown makes its final decisions on water policy.
It also means claimants will be able to get the funding needed to prepare evidence for the stage 2 hearing, including scientific evidence on existing water quality and evidence on shortcomings in existing Resource Management Act processes.
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