Ngai Tamahaua Hapu Chair Peter T Selwyn today announced next steps for the New Zealand Government in response to the
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations’ statement of 22 February 2019 on the Whakatohea Treaty settlement
situation.
Mr Selwyn says: “The Hapu have made it clear that dialogue with the New Zealand Government on decolonisation of our
territory and reparations can only commence once concrete steps have been made by them to end their divisive mandate
policy – in particular, the New Zealand Government must terminate mandate recognition of Whakatohea Pre-Settlement
Claims Trust (WPSCT) and their negotiators and withdraw the WPSCT-negotiated Agreement in Principle signed in 2017.”
“I welcome the Minister’s recent realisation of the critical importance of Hapu in future Treaty negotiations,” says Mr
Selwyn, “however the Hapu will not start negotiations on settling the historical Treaty violations of the Crown until
after a Waitangi Tribunal comprehensive historical inquiry is complete.”
Ngai Tamahaua Hapu claimants Tracy F Hillier and Rita R Wordsworth have also rejected the Minister’s “parallel” scenario
and have asked the Tribunal to begin an inquiry without delay. Ms Hillier says: “90% of Whakatohea claimants oppose the
WPSCT. The Tribunal’s urgent inquiry into the mandate (Wai 2662 report) exposed the opportunism of the previous
government in using a small group at the Whakatohea Maori Trust Board to hijack the mandate. These government paid
individuals have failed to unite anyone other than themselves and Ministers must stop this circus.”
A Waitangi Tribunal-directed opinion poll of Whakatohea Hapu was held last year to indicate levels of support for an
inquiry or the WPSCT continuing to negotiate. Ngai Tamahaua Hapu did not support participation in the poll and did not
supply their register. All participating Hapu voted in favour of a Tribunal inquiry, while WPSCT negotiation only had
the support of half the Hapu - the lowest level of support recorded in a live mandate situation.
Ms Hillier says: “The poll considerably under-represents the opposition to the government’s Pre-Settlement Trust. The
poll lacked credibility for many reasons: using unauthorised voter rolls that could not be verified, the involvement of
the government’s mandated Trust in the process and their overwhelming government funding, the refusal to admit Hapu
scrutineers to the count and the result which was not certified. The Minister identifies the poll’s lack of independence
when he praises the Trust’s ‘hard work they have done in facilitating the voting process’- a clear conflict of interest
that brings the result into question.”