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August 29, 2022
PowerStation’s not part of Ngāti Ruapani settlement.
Claudette Hauiti
Posted On August 29, 2022
Download AudioNgāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana and the crown have signed an agreement in principle to settle historic treaty claims, but a major grievance over the use of the lake for hydroelectric power storage has been left out.
The proposed settlement will include financial redress of $24 million, the option to purchase the Crown’s share in the Patunamu Forest and commercial properties owned by the Crown in the Ngāti Ruapani area of interest.
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says the crown acknowledges past acts and omissions breached the Treaty of Waitangi, including using aggressive measures to acquire land from Ngāti Ruapani, and failing to ensure they retained sufficient land for the present and future needs of their people.
He says no settlement can truly compensate for the grief, loss, and past injustices Ngāti Ruapani have endured.
Ngāti Ruapani negotiator Kara Puketapu-Dentice says there’s more work to be done, especially over the power stations.
“We recognise the impact of the power stations within Waikaremoana. The effect that has on the division of our people from their whenua and obviously the Crown will pull its hands away from its responsibility for that. But we are quite clear in our minds that there is a responsibility of the Crown to ensure that it partakes in a process that makes right a situation it created,” Mr Puketapu-Dentice says.
Ngāti Ruapani has about 3,500 members and an area of interest centred around Lake Waikaremoana.
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