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Members of Taranaki Tuturu and Te Atiawa are looking forward to putting the pain and division of the past and start the healing they need to move forward.
About 150 members of the two iwi, along with a group from Rangitane o Manawatu, were at parliament this morning for the first reading of their respective treaty settlement bills.
Waatea reporter Kura Ratapu says "the shots fired at Waitara in 1860 to enforce a disputed land sale marked the start of a war in Taranaki that some say has never ended. Even getting to the table for settlement talks has been a struggle for the iwi and the talk among those who came down from Taranaki maunga was of those who have been lost along the way, and of how people need to find new ways to work together".
"Te Atiawa will get $87 million in commercial redress to rebuild the economic base it lost when its lands were confiscated and its people dispersed 150 years ago. Taranaki will get $70 million and some culturally significant land, but its grievance over the 1881 sacking of Parihaka will be dealt with separately". The two iwi will share ownership of the iconic Nga Motu/Sugar Loaf Islands off New Plymouth. The bills were referred to the Maori affairs select committee".
But what's more important for many will be the apologies the crown will finally make for bringing war to the maunga.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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