June 26, 2015
Bold moves needed in land reform
A leading Maori lawyer says reform of Maori land law isn’t going far enough, and there are still some long-standing problems that haven’t been addressed.
Consultation on a draft of a new Ture Whenua Maori have just finished, and the independent advisory committee will now write a report for Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell and the Maori affairs select committee.
Willie Te Aho says it’s a good first draft, but it’s still tinkering with existing legislation.
He says the thrust of the Waitangi Tribunal’s first Te Paparahi o Te Raki Report on Northland claims was that Maori did not cede sovereignty by signing the Treaty of Waitangi, so the challenge is how to give them sovereignty over their own land.
"We need to deal with the rating issue, we need to deal with the valuation, we need to deal with the restrictive approaches that local governments take, all of these issues we need to deal with at the same time and be bold, make difference that matters for a lifetime, make this the tuakana of all legislation that affects our land and use this law to restrict the impacts of Pakeha law on our land," Mr Te Aho says.
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