September 26, 2016
Tuhoronuku situation weighs heavy on ministers
Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell doesn’t believe the crown can just walk away from Ngapuhi claim negotiation body Tuhoronuku.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson is wrestling with the question of whether Tuhoronuku has gone far enough in accepting the Maranga Mai report on changes to the negotiating process.
The group said it was willing to work alongside rival Te Kotahitanga, as long as the objective was a single settlement rather than fragmenting it into smaller hapu deals.
Four trustees quit after voting against that motion, and they are now trying to join with Te Kotahitanga to form a replacement body.
Mr Flavell says no one is happy about the situation.
"There’s a fair few hundred million (dollars) sitting in the kitty waiting to be disbursed to Ngapuhi to allow them to set up their own structures or do whatever they want to do, and yet we can't even get to have a consolidated view on how things might track out, other than a report that has been written but part of it many of the trustees are not willing to implement. I'd say start again but the downside is there has been millions of dollars pumped into trying to get to this point in time over many years," he says.
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