Frustrated Ngāi Te Rangi members protested outside Parliament yesterday over stalled Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little, however, said in response the delay was a result of the Tauranga iwi’s choices.
Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust chief executive Paora Stanley said about 350 iwi members held a “non-violent but passionate” and peaceful protest about the prolonged delay in completing its settlement with the Crown over historical grievances.
Stanley said the Ngāi Te Rangi Settlement Deed with the Crown was signed in 2013 in “good faith” yet 10 years on, the settlement was unresolved despite numerous meetings with Treaty negotiations ministers of both Labour and National as well as government officials.
He said it was a sunny but cold day in Wellington but he and fellow protestors remained “resolute” about ensuring their voices were heard widely, even if no MPs or election candidates attended the protest meeting.
Stanley said the protest was to remind the Crown that he and other iwi members expected the matter to be given “urgency and immediate priority”.
“We are uniting and raising our voices on the grounds of Parliament … It’s a critical moment for us, and we want our whānau to be part of it. "
“This includes my six-month-old grandson Paora who is with me today. We will able to tell him the story about how he was part of the fight for justice for our people.”
He said they wanted the Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little to “park up the contentious issues” in the settlement agreement to be dealt with at a later date and to progress the agreed parts with urgency.
This included Ngāi Te Rangi’s continued opposition to the Pare Hauraki Iwi Collective settlement claim for redress, which includes rights to the Tauranga Harbour, an area that Pare Hauraki says is within its tribal boundaries.
Ngāi Te Rangi protested that settlement outside Parliament in 2018.
“We cannot endure another three years of political and bureaucratic … inaction. We have been meeting with the Crown all year and being ignored.”
He said he believed Little had not been listening to their concerns.
“We want the sounds of our people’s views to echo through the halls of Parliament to send a loud and clear message to the next Government what we expect.”
Stanley said the present protest campaign was signalled clearly to Crown ministers at the start of the year.
“Despite our efforts the Crown has elected to sit on their hands and hope we give up. When it comes to upholding the mana of Ngāi Te Rangi, we will never give up.
“And whoever is in government after the elections, we remain, unfinished business for them.”
Ngāi Te Rangi’s protest campaign is called ‘Kua Tae Te Wa’, Stanley said.
“This means the coloniser may own the watch, but we, the indigenous people, have the time and we’ll take as long as it needs to fight. That’s what it’s all about for us.”
In a written response, Little said legislation for Ngāi Te Rangi’s settlement of Treaty grievances was paused because the iwi withdrew their support for their own legislation, no longer supporting parts of their settlement that had been agreed with the Crown.
“They took a number of issues to the Waitangi Tribunal in relation to the content of other settlements, specifically the Pare Hauraki Collective Settlement because of Ngāi Te Rangi’s view that it encroached on their mana whenua.”
Little said the Waitangi Tribunal made findings that the Crown had not dealt with the overlapping interests properly, and made recommendations on how to proceed.
“The Tribunal also said that the Crown was entitled to rely on agreements that had already been made. Notwithstanding that, the Crown has attempted to facilitate engagement between Ngāi Te Rangi and Hauraki iwi and specifically supporting tikanga-based processes, “he said.
“Ngāi Te Rangi has frequently made itself unavailable for engagement, and when it had engaged it has not engaged with the mandated representatives of Hauraki iwi but other representatives of some Hauraki iwi,” he said.
Little said in his ministerial role, he had engaged with Ngāi Te Rangi a number of times, including in May this year.
“I have also engaged with other Tauranga Moana iwi and have actively explored alternative pathways so that they get the benefit of their settlements.”
“It should be noted that of the financial component of the Ngāi Te Rangi settlement, they have already received 100 per cent of it on account ($29.5 million), so they have not been left without the benefit of their agreements with the Crown.” Little said progress would only be made when parties choose to engage.
“This will happen when Ngāi Te Rangi is ready to engage with their Hauraki counterparts and indeed with the Crown.”