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March 13, 2016
Flavell says tribunal behind pace on land law reform
Waatea Team
Posted On March 13, 2016
Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell says the version of Te Ture Whenua Maori Bill criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal is not the same as the one he intends to introduce to parliament.
A tribunal report released on Friday said no empirical research has been done on whether the existing Maori land law was working, so neither the crown nor Maori have been properly informed throughout the reform process.
It says all Maori landowners would be prejudiced if the bill goes ahead with its current provisions and with what is still an unacceptable level of uncertainty for Maori.
Mr Flavell says time has moved on since the claim was heard.
"A lot of the information was I don't know would've been at about version 7 or so, we're now at version 16 and things have moved a fair bit there has been a hell of alot more consultation then they heard about at the time and it would have actually have a lot more buy in from the land owners which is of deep concern but I got to have a look at that Tribunal report, just go over it a little bit more carefully. I take the commitments to the Tribunal pretty seriously so I wanna get a bit of time, go through it, see what they've said and see if we cannot build on the outcomes of their discussion", says Mr Flavell.
Minister Flavell will be in Kaitaia on Thursday continuing his programme of hui to landowners about the reforms.
FULL INTERVIEW: TE URUROA FLAVELL
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