December 10, 2021
Maheatai buy valuable talking point
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little is keen to get a far north iwi back to the table now he has a culturally significant piece of land to talk about.
The crown is buying a block on where the river meets the sea at Taipa, which was occupied when it went up for sale five weeks ago.
It’s going into a land bank for Ngāti Kahu settlement negotiations, which are on hold while the rūnanga asks the Waitangi Tribunal to use its resumption powers to force the handover of crown and state owned enterprise land in its rohe.
Mr Lttle says Maheatai is significant not just to the iwi but to Aotearoa New Zealand as one of the sites where Kupe made landfall, so it’s a chance to show some good will.