Treaty group calls election, finally

A Treaty Settlement Group has called an election, a month after a group of beneficiaries went to court asking for the current trustees to be removed, and 16 months after the Waitangi Tribunal and the Government said elections should be held.

Mana Ahuriri Trust, the Post-Settlement Governance Entity for claims in the Napier area, was set up to handle the settlement signed with the Crown in 2016.

The settlement involved financial and commercial redress of about $19.5 million, and vesting of some properties to seven Napier hapu¯ who are represented by the trust.

The Ahuriri Hapu¯ Claims Settlement Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2019. It passed its first reading and went through the Ma¯ ori Affairs select committee last year.

It has not had its second reading, with Minister of Treaty Settlements Andrew Little saying the bill won’t progress until elections are held.

Beneficiaries will not receive settlement until the bill is passed. Several property developments in Napier have been stalled as a result of the delays. This includes construction of a $20m store housing Briscoes and Rebel Sports, which was granted resource consent three years ago.

Concerns around the appointment of trustees were raised by the Waitangi Tribunal, which in 2019 recommended that an election for the nine positions on Mana Ahuriri Trust be held before settlement legislation was passed.

The trust refused to hold elections and said Little was causing ‘‘unnecessary delays’’ that had cost it more than $29m.

Last year trust chair Piri Prentice said elections could be held after the legislation had passed and urged the Crown to enact it.

Little refused, saying: ‘‘The bill will not be passed until the recommendation of the Waitangi Tribunal, agreed to by the trust, for elections is fulfilled.’’

In a statement, Little said he was pleased elections were now being held.

One of the hapu¯ , Nga¯ ti Pa¯ rau, applied to the Ma¯ ori Land Court to have an independent trustee appointed to investigate the activities of the trustees.

The application was heard last month and Judge Layne Harvey is yet to make his decision.

The court heard the beneficiaries claim that trustees had clocked up fees of $109,000 each a year as the trust went broke and failed to pay rates and insurance on its only building.

A public notice yesterday nominations for new trustees. called for