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The Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust has written to the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations complaining the chief crown negotiator is widening splits in the Auckland and Hauraki iwi.
Chair Gary Thompson says Rick Barker is ignoring the iwi's clear intention to transfer all its assets into the trust.
Splits have emerged in recent months between the iwi trust and the original Ngāti Paoa Trust Board, which says the post-settlement governance entity is jumping the gun and assuming a wider mandate than it holds.
Mr Thompson says the iwi needs to consolidate a number of settlements into a single body.
"What Mr Barker has done is chosen to reinvigorate the trust board and its mandate to allow it to do a number of other things that weren't contemplated by the people and one of those things is the trust board will hold on to the Waiheke Station farm won by the people in 1989. Why would they do that? There's no interest from the people to have two representative bodies post-settlement," he says.
Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust is also holding off signing the Marutūahu deed of settlement because it has concerns about overlapping claims and whether its primary position in Auckland will be acknowledged.
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