November 01, 2017
Lessons from history in tribunal rebuke
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Waitangi Tribunal’s rejection of the Ngatiwai mandate is a reminder tribal bodies need to maintain the support of their people.
The tribunal has upheld a clam the mandate held by the Ngatiwai Trust Board to negotiate a settlement for the Northland tribe’s historic claims was not safe because hapu could not exercise their rangatiratanga.
Mr Peters, who is a Ngatiwai member and fought the taking of its coastal lands in the 1970s, says mandates are not permanent, and legitimacy can slip away if people don’t feel connected.
He was also concerned about the evidence the board put before the tribunal.
"Some of the factual evidence I saw going before the tribunal from Ngatiwai for example going back a long, long time – remember I was involved in the early 1970s in the biggest land case this country had ever seen in terms of taking on both the crown and the then-Whangarei Country Council – I began to look at it and think there are some parts of this argument that don’t hold true. I know what the old people told me when I was a young lawyer," Mr Peters says.
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