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An advisor to the Iwi Chairs Forum says the Government will have to deal with the Forum whether it likes it or not.
Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta gave the chairs a message at their hui in Wellington last week that the way the forum has been operating has not been entirely satisfactory and it needed to change.
The National Government used the forum as a sounding board for policy but Labour has indicated it is looking for other ways to get the pulse of Maoridom.
Willie Te Aho says the forum represents a collective of the Maori treaty partners.
"The crown signed agreements with various iwi that have settled. They apologised for breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and basically said they would b better treaty partners going forward so it’s not a case of if the crown deal with us. They must deal with us," he says.
Willie Te Aho says there is still action before the courts over Maori rights and interests in water, and the Iwi Chairs are one of the groups the Government has to deal with over that.
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