Nga¯puhi Treaty talks progressing

Nga¯ puhi negotiations continue to progress after meetings with Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little during the weekend.

Little met with Nga¯ puhi leaders at Parliament to discuss ways to progress redress negotiations for the iwi.

The talks included Tu¯ horonuku representatives Hone Sadler and Sonny Tau, and Te Kotahitanga leaders Pita Tipene and Rudy Taylor.

Tuhoronuku is the entity that holds the mandate for negotiating with the Crown on behalf of Nga¯puhi, New Zealand’s largest iwi. Te Kotahitanga is a breakaway group fighting Tuhoronuku’s mandate.

Little said he was pleased with the tone of the discussions, and considered the talks ‘‘helpful and constructive’’.

The Nga¯puhi representatives would report back to the ha¯ pu and iwi on the issues discussed.

Nga¯ puhi settlement negotiations had a ‘‘somewhat chequered past’’, so it was good to get everyone in the same room for a day and a half, for some ‘‘good exchanges’’, Little said.

The meeting was organised during a hui with leaders at the end of last year, and further discussions during Little’s time up north ahead of Waitangi Day.

‘‘There’s never any harm in talking and continuing to talk while we have the opportunity and the goodwill.’’

Little said he did not have a fixed timeline for when he wanted a settlement to be reached, however, the parties involved had agreed to ‘‘make haste slowly’’.

It was important to get the starting position right, so by the time everyone got around the table, there was a good foundation for discussions, he said. The iwi’s Treaty negotiations began in 2009 but Tuhoronuku’s mandate wasn’t recognised until 2014.

The next year, the Waitangi Tribunal ruled the Crown undermined the right of hapu to choose who spoke for them when it recognised Tuhoronuku.

The group agreed to hand over the mandate to a new board at the beginning of 2017 but later backpedalled.

Former Treaty negotiations minister Chris Finlayson previously hinted the Nga¯ puhi leadership needed to put their own power and pride aside and think about their people in order to reach an agreement.

In November, Little said he had a ‘‘very strong desire’’ to see the claim settled.

‘‘My instinct is to say I’ll hear anybody. I’m not making decisions at the moment but I’ll listen to anybody to get a feel for the dimensions of the problems and issues,’’ he said.

‘‘But at some point we need to get to having negotiations instead of arguing about who is at the table.’’

Sadler said in February he was ‘‘very optimistic’’ about a Nga¯ puhi settlement with a new Government handling Treaty claims.