Iwi pleased with tribunal ruling

The tribunal found the Crown took an unusually active role around Lake Horowhenua

Muaupoko iwi has its eyes set on the future, after the Waitangi Tribunal found it had been badly treated by the Crown on multiple occasions.

The tribunal released Horowhenua: The Muaupoko Priority Report on Friday, where it summed up its findings after weeks of hearings in 2015 and 2016.

The hearings, held at Muaupoko’s request, were designed to settle various issues before the iwi embarked on Treaty settlement negotiations.

While the Crown admitted to breaching various sections of the Treaty of Waitangi, including by making laws that left the iwi effectively landless, the tribunal found in favour of other assertions Muaupoko made.

Some of the treaty breaches involved the way the Native Land Court and Crown dealt with the purchase of Muaupoko land in Horowhenua.

Land was purchased from Muaupoko had tried to negotiate a settlement involving Maori and Pakeha living together, but the Crown thwarted those efforts, the tribunal found.

Muaupoko Tribal Authority chairwoman Nina Hori Te Pa said the iwi welcomed the report, as it supported the arguments and expert historical evidence they put forward.

It was early days, with the board considering the 750-page report in finer detail before figuring out its next step, she said.

Land issues took up much of the report, but so too did discussion about Lake Horowhenua, Hokio Stream, and associated waterways and fisheries.

The tribunal found the Crown took an unusually active role around Lake Horowhenua, with legislation effectively taking control of the lake’s waters away from the iwi.

That was done despite Muaupoko not agreeing to its land being put in control of a domain board.

Despite promises the lake would not be degraded and that sewage from Levin would not enter it, sewage was pumped into the lake from the 1950s onwards. That led to Lake Horowhenua becoming one of the most notoriously polluted bodies of water in New Zealand.

The tribunal’s report recommended the Crown help create and fund a Muaupoko governance structure to act as kaitiaki, or guardian, for the waterways.

Tribal authority board member and treaty negotiator Matt Sword, who also chairs the Lake Horowhenua Trust and Lake Horowhenua Accord Group, said the recommendation came on the back of a recent ‘‘massive restoration effort’’.

‘‘We welcome the report that comes at this time, adding significant weight to creating a legacy solution for Lake Horowhenua, with the Crown needing to step up and play a more direct role in that.

‘‘The vision of the lake trust and the beneficial owners is to shift the lake from its current state as one of the most polluted lakes in Aotearoa to a prized taonga, celebrated and enjoyed by all.

‘‘What that looks like for us is a lake that is safe to swim in all year round and a thriving ecological resource of kai both in the lake and out to marine area where the Hokio outlet meets the coast.’’

New legislation was needed to get everything in line, with Sword expecting laws about the management of the Waikato and Whanganui rivers to help shape the final law about Lake Horowhenua.

Another big finding from the tribunal was the area Muaupoko interests covered. While often thought of as a Horowhenua iwi, the tribunal found Muaupoko’s interests went further, including into the Manawatu and Rangitikei.

Sword said those confirmations were made despite a ‘‘false narrative’’ pushed by some historians ‘‘that tried to write Muaupoko out of its own traditional rohe [territory]’’.