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Ngāpuhi leader Sonny Tau says his rūnanga won’t be pushed aside from talks about the tribe’s future.
Mr Tau spent the weekend at five hui where Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Litte laid out proposed changes that will allow settlement talks with the northern tribe to resume.
Still being debated are how to include members of the tribe living in the cities, and whether the rūnanga will continue to be represented on the claim negotiation body Tūhoronuku.
Mr Tau, who is also deputy chair of Tūhoronuku, says the rūnanga needs to be there until settlement.
"We are not moving aside, (giving up) an asset that we rescues in 2000 that was $860,000 in debt to the IRD, to have now an asset of $56 million, we are not just going to walk out the door and let those people who complain about leadership and yet never put their names forward to be leaders, going to push us out of there. There is no way that is going to happen," he says.
Mr Tau says the walk-out staged by Ngāti Hine from the final hui means the opposing Te Kōtahitanga group no longer has any credibility.
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