September 12, 2012
Settlement means for Tuhoe to build rangatiratanga
Tuhoe’s chief negotiator says it’s fitting the iwi’s historic claims settlement will be the same $170 million headline figure as that given to Tainui and Ngai Tahu.
Tamati Kruger says negotiators will be recommending the iwi accept the package once a final deed is thrashed out with the Crown.
He says $170 million is as much as an iwi can hope to receive from the current treaty settlement process, and reflects the loss, despair and oppression felt by the people.
“The Crown is not in the business for justice, they’re in the business for politics. Justice is something that iwi do for themselves. These offers and settlements are not answers but means by which iwi can build a prosperous future. These settlements don’t provide fixes to the injuries and hurt of the past but they can assist iwi to restitute and restore their mana and their rangatiratanga”.
Some of the money is Tuhoe’s share of the central North Island forestry settlement, and it will also get joint governance but not ownership of the Urewera National Park.