Listen Now: 
Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey says continued agitation over the Pare Hauraki settlement fails to acknowledge the significant changes to it agreed between the iwi and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little before it was signed.
The Māori Party is attacking Mr Coffey over the deed and his reminder it was initialed by the previous Government in December 2016.
It was not signed before the election because then-Māori development minister Te Ururoa Flavell sided with Tauranga Moana iwi challenging the way overlapping claims had been handled.
Mr Coffey says he promised to walk alongside Tauranga iwi, and his advice to Minister Little influenced changes made to the deed after Ngai Te Rangi’s hikoi to parliament in May.
"There’s some key changes around the cultural redress in Tauranga Moana being pulled out of the deed. There's also been the removal of some of Hauraki's statutory recognitions in Tauranga and also Hauraki interests in Matakana Island as well. That has all been passed off to the tikanga process to work through," he says.
Tamati Coffey says the situation was getting messy, and signing the deed was a way to clarify what was settled and what still needed work.
!["p_facebook"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/facebook.jpg")
& !["p_twitter"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/twitter.jpg")
Copyright © 2018, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
