September 27, 2017
Ngatiwai looks at settlement barrier


Northland iwi Ngatiwai has joined the queue of tribes upset at the way the crown is dealing with overlapping interests in the Hauraki settlement.
The settlement was due to be signed before the election but the crown held off because of opposition from Tauranga iwi.
Ngati Whatua Orakei is also in court contesting the inclusion of central Auckland properties in the redress package.
Ngatiwai chair Haydn Edmonds says his iwi has similar concerns about a redress property on Aotea-Great Barrier.
He says while there are Ngatiwai whanau on the island who also have Marutuahu whakapapa, that is for tribes to deal with through a tikanga process.
"We believe this issue is not unresolvable and certainly the crown process has deviated from its original intent which is a settlement historically from 1840 when presumably they took over, or they say that anyway. What we find it the crown has added in a number of add ons which include a contemporary element to this treaty settlement as well," Mr Edmonds says.
He says if the crown acknowledges too many overlapping interests it could run out of redress for mana whenua iwi.
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