December 07, 2018
Tribunal role questioned as Ngāpuhi vote closes
Northland-based New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says problems with getting progress with the Ngāpuhi claim can be sheeted back to the Waitangi Tribunal.
Individual voting on an evolved mandate for negotiations closed at noon, but hapū endorsement hui will continue until Sunday.
Negotiations were paused three years ago after the tribunal said hapū should be more involved.
Mr Jones says many of the hapū endorsement hui created to accommodate those findings have been a fiasco, but the broader iwi should keep its eyes on achieving a settlement.
"Obviously the Waitangi tribunal created the majority of the problem that is in Ngāpuhi now and after the next election I have given my pledge that I am going to campaign on changing the legislation for the Waitangi tribunal. I think the way in which they have ruined the mandate process of the Ngāpuhi claim shows the high tide mark for them has come and gone," he says.
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