The announcement was made during a speech to the national hui of over 200 iwi, hapu and Crown representatives held in Wellington to discuss speeding up the historical settlement process. The hui discussed responses to a number of proposals put forward by the Crown and by claimants about improving the settlement process at an initial national meeting in April.
"One clear message from the April hui was that there was inadequate support for claimant groups in negotiating settlements, particularly where those groups have no access to funding from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust," said Mr Finlayson. Only groups whose claims involve licensed Crown Forest Land can apply to the CFRT for funding to help their negotiations. "The government's response, after considering proposals and consulting closely with the Maori Party, is to increase funding for groups to help them organise for productive and efficient negotiations."
Claimant groups without access to funding from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust will have the amount of Crown funding they are eligible for boosted by 60%, and those groups with access to CFRT funding will receive a 10% increase.
"Accelerating settlements will deliver their benefits more quickly to claimant groups and the wider regions and communities where they live," Mr Finlayson said. "The government is again showing commitment to its target of reaching just and durable settlements of historical claims by 2014, for the good of iwi and all New Zealanders."
The changes are expected to provide around $2 million to $3 million extra support a year across claimant groups, depending on the speed of settlements.
Mr Finlayson's announcement follows the Budget's provision of $22.2 million over four years to increase the Office of Treaty Settlements' capacity to conduct negotiations. This will allow government to engage more independent facilitators and Crown chief negotiators with the standing and experience to conduct negotiations at a high level, a proposal from the first hui that was strongly welcomed by claimant groups.
A number of the ideas put forward by the Crown and iwi are being studied more closely to see if they can make a contribution to faster settlements.