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National Party Maori spokesperson Nuk Korako says the Waitangi Tribunal has got the Whakatohea settlement wrong.
The tribunal has criticised the mandating process and says the previous Government rushed the settlement to meet its political objective to settle all major claims by 2020.
It recommended talks be halted to give the eastern Bay of Plenty iwi a chance to vote on how they want to proceed on a hapu by hapu basis.
Mr Korako says the tribunal failed to consider the full history of how the settlement was brought across the line, which includes more than the year or so of negotiations.
"This is one of the largest settlement to date, it is around $100 million, and there has been a lot of frustration, even when back in 2015 the minister was admonished by the Whakatohea rakatira that the process was taking far too long," he says.
Mr Korako says Whakatohea leadership deserves praise for the efforts they put in to achieve a settlement.
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