Far North iwi reaches settlement milestone

Te Rarawa, the largest of the five iwi in the Far North, today signed Terms of Negotiation with the Crown, Treaty Negotiations Minister Margaret Wilson said.

“The Terms of Negotiation set out the ground rules for negotiations and signal the beginning of the formal talks that will lead to the settlement of Te Rarawa’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims.”

Margaret Wilson extended her congratulations to the mandated body of Te Runanga of Te Rarawa and its negotiators on achieving the important milestone and said it further demonstrated their hard work, determination and inclusive approach for progressing Te Rarawa claims toward settlement.

[Te Rarawa is located around Kaitaia and the Hokianga Harbour, and has 12,000 people.]

“The next step in the negotiations process will be the signing of an Agreement in Principle. Work has already started on this, and involves both parties focusing on the fine detail of the Te Rarawa claims in order to reach an agreement on the components of a settlement package.”

Te Rarawa was represented at today’s signing by Runanga Chairperson Gloria Herbert, Deputy Chairperson Puni Makene and three Te Rarawa Treaty Claims Negotiators. The Crown was represented by Margaret Wilson and Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Treaty Negotiations Mita Ririnui.

Margaret Wilson said today’s signing was further evidence of the gathering pace of Treaty settlements.
“In the past three months alone, Deeds of Settlement have been initialled with two Bay of Plenty groups - Ngati Awa ($42 million) and Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty ($10. 5 million) - both of which are now with the claimant communities for ratification.”