May 25, 2018
Crown meddling sparks Paoa backlash
Auckland and Hauraki iwi Ngati Paoa is backing a challenge by Ngati Whatua Orakei to the Hauraki Collective Settlement it is a part of.
Chair Gary Thompson is urging Treaty Negotiaitons Minister Andrew Little not to sign the collective’s deed of settlement until the concern of Orakei and Tauranga Moana iwi are addressed.
At issue is whether Hauraki should be offered settlement properties in areas those other iwi say they have no post-1840 historical rights in.
Mr Thompson says Ngati Paoa is also concerned at the way the settlement defines the small group Te Patukirikiri as an iwi in its own right.
"So in Tamaki we consider they are a hapu of Paoa yet through the settlement process they get to have an equal share of the settlement proceeds through this Marutuahu Collective which isn’t right. It stamps in the face of tikanga and the history of the people," he says.
Gary Thompson says the treaty settlement should be about events after 1840, but the crown is now reaching back before 1840 in constructing its settlements.
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