Posts Tagged ‘Ngāi Tahu Settlement’

Quantification of Loss – negotiations with the Crown

Central to the tensions that arose during the course of the Ngāi Tahu negotiations was the question of how the total value of the settlement would be ascertained and dealt with. While the Crown approached the negotiations from the perspective that earlier settlements of the 1940s only required updating, negotiators for Ngāi Tahu believed that the amount returned to them had to reflect the value of what they had lost. Ngāi Tahu understood that full reimbursement would have been impossible, but they believed that some rationalisation or formula was necessary.

The Ngāi Tahu Treaty Settlement Negotiation with the Crown: Key players and background

In August 1986 Henare Rakiihia Tau, on behalf of the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board (NTMTB), submitted a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal about the government’s announcement that it would transfer Crown land interests to State-Owned Enterprises. Ngāi Tahu and Māori across the country were worried that after the government privatised land and assets they would become unavailable for transfer in future Treaty settlements. Over the following year-and-a-half, seven further amendments to their statement of claim were made that set out the grievances arising from land purchases and the lack of reserves provided by the Crown, and the loss of access to food-gathering areas (mahinga kai), including both sea and inland fisheries. Tau was the Deputy Chairman of the Trust Board, and the Upoko of Ngāi Tūāhuriri. Tā Tipene was the Chairman of the NTMTB, and he and Tau formed an effective partnership in leading the Ngāi Tahu claim in the 1980s.

Ngāi Tahu Claim Settlement Act, 29 September 1998

The passage of the Ngai Tahu Claim Settlement into law on 29 September 1998, was an historic and significant point in the long history of Ngai Tahu. As I stood there in Parliament while our people sang I thought of Tūhawaiki’s famous speech at the Ōtākou purchase in 1844 when he spoke of being surrounded by the memories of his own generation rather than those of ancient times.