Media Release
Organisation: Māori Affairs Committee
For release: 14 March 2017
Have your say on the Iwi and Hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa Claims Settlement Bill
Submissions are now open on the Iwi and Hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa Claims Settlement Bill, a piece of legislation that
would settle the historical Treaty of Waitangi Claims of the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa.
New Zealand’s Parliament sat in extended sitting hours today to pass the bill’s first reading.
The bill gives effect to the deed of settlement signed on the 26th of November 2016, in which the Crown and the iwi and
hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa agreed to a final settlement. Once passed, the legislation will give effect to the terms of
the settlement.
Approximately 25,000 people make up the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe of Te Wairoa, and the area affected by the bill spans
from Northern Hawke’s Bay to Southern Tūranga. It includes Wairoa township, Lake Waikaremoana, and the Mahi peninsula.
Tutehounuku Korako, the Chair of Parliament’s Māori Affairs Committee, says “this bill is an opportunity for the Crown
to officially apologise to the iwi and hapū of the Wairoa rohe, and for the iwi and hapū to begin the healing process.
If you have whakapapa links to the Wairoa rohe, please write us a submission and have your say.”
Tell the Māori Affairs Committee what you think
Send your submission on the bill by midnight on 26 April 2017.
For more details about the bill:
ENDS