East Coast Settlement Inquiry

The Waitangi Tribunal has today released a pre-publication version of its East Coast Settlement Report (Wai 2190). This report is the outcome of an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing in December 2009 into the Crown’s recognition of Te Rünanga o Ngati Porou’s (TRONP) mandate to negotiate and settle all historical Ngati Porou Treaty of Waitangi claims. The Tribunal panel comprises Judge Craig Coxhead (Presiding Officer), the Honourable Sir Doug Kidd, Mr Kihi Ngatai, Ms Tania Simpson and Mr Basil Morrison.

The Tribunal has released a pre-publication version of the report in order to make its findings and recommendations available at the earliest opportunity to the parties both in and outside the negotiations, which are understood to be at an advanced stage.

During the urgent hearing the three main claimants in the East Coast settlement inquiry asserted that they represented Ruawaipu, Uepohatu and Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti. They submitted that they, and those that they claimed to represent, are not Ngati Porou, and that TRONP therefore had no valid mandate to represent them in settlement negotiations.

The claimants argued that the Crown’s mandating process was flawed and sought a recommendation that the Crown delay the Ngati Porou settlement negotiations until their historical claims had been inquired into by the Waitangi Tribunal. Both the Crown and TRONP argued that TRONP’s mandate was valid and that the claimants in this urgency were properly included.

The Tribunal has not recommended that the Crown delay settlement with TRONP as requested by the claimants. The Tribunal did note a number of flaws in the process followed by the Crown in recognising TRONP’s mandate. While these flaws were not serious enough to recommend delaying the Ngati Porou settlement, the Tribunal is concerned that they should not be repeated again in other settlement processes. The Tribunal has therefore recommended a number of changes to the Crown’s mandate policies to enhance the durability of future settlements.

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Please Note: No further comment will be made in relation to the report by either the Tribunal or the Tribunal Administration.

A copy of the report and a report summary can be found on the Tribunal website www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz