September 18, 2018
Ōrakei celebrates Supreme Court win
NGARIMU BLAIR FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
Ngāti Whātūa Ōrakei wants the Treaty Negotiations Minister to revise a settlement offer to its Hauraki neighbours in light of a Supreme Court judgment clearing the way for a High Court review.
The majority of judges said there was nothing to stop parliament passing a law to transfer land in central Auckland to the Marutūāhu Collective and Ngāti Paoa, but until then the High Court can consider claims about treaty or customary rights to the land and whether it breaches the 2012 Ngāti Whātūa Ōrakei Claims Settlement Act 2012 or the 2014 Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Mākaurau Collective Redress Act.
It can also consider challenges to the Crown’s policy for dealing with overlapping claims.
Ngāti Whātūa Ōrakei Trust deputy chair Ngarimu Blair says since 2006 the hapū has been fighting a Waitangi Tribunal finding that the crown should to consider what interests other iwi had in Tāmaki Mākaurau before settling with Ōrakei.
Those interests can now be tested in the High Court, unless Minister Little is willing to sit down with Ōrakei and Marutūāhu around the negotiating table.
"We would hope the crown woudn't just ignore the ruling, which they can do, and transfer the properties. They would be open to a contemporary claim and we would claim for damages if they bowled on with that and we would also still run our High Court case which would show that really the land shouldn't have been transferred to them without referring to the interests and the mana whenua and the ahi kaa of Ngāti Whātūa Ōrakei ," Mr Blair says.
The litigation has been expensive, and it is good the iwi will now get some of its costs back.
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