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November 22, 2021
Crown uses iwi to sideline Wairarapa owners
Adam Gifford
Posted On November 22, 2021
Download AudioThe chair of Wairarapa Moana Incorporation is accusing the crown of ignoring its own rules to get a claim to land under a Waikato River dam off the table.
The Waitangi Tribunal has ruled the mandate held by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki Nui-ā-Rua Treaty Settlement should not include Wairarapa Moana’s Wai 85 Claim, and it has recommended the settlement be halted.
Kingi Smiler says the deed of settlement was signed despite having the lowest level of support of any claim so far.
The incorporation is asking the crown and the settlement trust to split out its claim.
“The crown should settle with them, leave our (claim) out and allow us our day in court. This is more again like the foreshore and seabed case where the crow is taking actions that will preclude us from completing our court proceedings over our resumption claim for land under Lake Maraetai Dam,” Mr Smiler says.
Wairarapa Moana represents Māori given land in the central North Island (Pouakani) to replace land in South Wairarapa taken from them in the 1890s.
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