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Te Kotahitanga co-chair Pita Tipene says the involvement of Ngapuhi Runanga chair Sonny Tau is a impassible obstacle to his group working with claim negotiation body Tuhoronuku.
Mr Tipene will share the stage with Tuhoronuku in Otautahi tonight at the invitation of local whanau.
He and co-chair Rudy Taylor have rejected Bill English's proposal they sit down with Mr Tau and Tuhoronuku chair Hone Sadler to map a path ahead.
He says that was at the direction of member hapu.
"Tuhoronuku have been saying te Kotahitanga don't want to talk. That is not true, but our people gave us a clear directive that if Sonny Tau was at the pointy end of those discussions, Rudy and I were not to engage," Mr Tipene says.
He says the answer is for Tuhoronuku to adopt in its entirety the Maranga Mai report, which would put control of the settlement process in the hands of Ngapuhi's 100-plus hapu.
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