Northland subtribe Ngāti Kura is fighting for the return of Motukawaiti in the Bay of islands whose sale to a private owner is being disputed.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says the iwi may not have a fight due to it having already sold the island.
In 1996, Ngāti Kura business Mahimahi E5 Trust bought the island, with the aim of returning it to the hapū.
However, Ngāti Kura Kaumātua and former Māori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels is challenging the legitimacy of the sale.
"[The land] is now in other hands and it's now on the market again," Little says.
"We would never have sold our island, I don't care how much we got an offer for it, and he [Little] knows that," Dover Samuels says.