December 08, 2022
Supreme Court breathes life into dam claim
The chair of Mangakino Wairarapa Moana Incorporation, Kingi Smiler, is calling for the Government to strip the incorporation’s claim out of Ngati Kahungungu settlement legislation now it has won its case in the Supreme Court.
The court upheld the right of the Waitangi Tribunal to order the return of land under the Maraetai hydro dam on the Waikato River as redress for the incorporation’s WAI 85 claim.
Mr Smiler says that claim relates to the taking of land at Pouakani given to Ngati Kahungunu as a swap for Lake Wairarapa.
Against the objections of claimants the crown lumped it in with wider Kahungunu ki Wairarapa claims, which will be extinguished by settlement legislation due to be passed next week.
“The crown made a number of assumptions that there’s no possibility we would ever be successful. What the decision has made is that there is still a very strong possibility we will be successful and we should be given the right to return to the tribunal to complete the claim process for resumption,” Mr Smiler says.
He says removing Wai 85 from the bill would allow the rest of Ngati Kahungunu to get its settlement.