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National | Settlements

Legal proceedings challenge Ngāti Rehua mandate

Ngāti Rehua is a stage closer to the treaty negotiation table but legal proceedings filed only days ago challenge the Crown approved mandate.

A meeting has been held to update beneficiaries of Ngati Rehua as they come a stage closer to the Crown's negotiation table.

Over six years have passed since the Crown recognition of a mandate to settle the Ngāti Rehua treaty claims on Great Barrier Island in its quest to settle the whole of the Auckland isthmus.

Only days ago, legal proceedings were filed challenging the said mandate.

“Whether that was right or wrong back then, there was a change of Government and a new policy,” says the Chairman of the Board of Ngati Wai, Haydn Edmonds, “and so we're still being driven by the Crown, and we're still struggling to get a footing with this Crown to go forward.  As a consequence of that, our people are still finding there are questions to be answered.”

Media coverage was not allowed in the meeting, nor was the chair and chief negotiator for Ngati Rehua keen to comment at this stage.

Apparently, the meeting began with heated debate but the majority of beneficiaries who attended believe there was positive progress achieved.

“The crown does have a lot to answer for when some of the things that are coming out now have simply been not right in terms of process,” says Edmonds, “They need to answer those beneficiaries and those individuals and claimants who are making these allegations.”