Defining moment for Ngāti Maniapoto as iwi urged to vote on Treaty settlement
Sunday, 8 August 2021
A Treaty of Waitangi Settlement more than 20 years in the making now hinges on the votes being cast by tribal members of Ngāti Maniapoto.
The iwi is being asked to vote on whether it approves the Deed of Settlement and the Post Settlement Governance Entity which will manage the $180 million settlement on behalf of Maniapoto.
Iwi members must also vote on whether they agree to ratify the constitutional documents of Te Nehenehenui, the new governance entity.
Voting closes on August 16 and Maniapoto Māori Trust Board chairman Keith Ikin said it would be the most important date in determining the future of the iwi.
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**
“If the vote is not to support the deed, the whole process will have to start again.”
He said the Crown had not made any predetermination on what percentage of the vote had to return a “yes” decision.
“If you look at other Treaty settlements it varies but we do need a strong mandate from the iwi.
Ikin had just finished attending a series of 14 hui around the country to present the Deed of Settlement and details of the Post Settlement Governance Entity to iwi members.
A total of 14,000 voting ballots had been sent to tribal members.
A recent check on progress showed only 3000 votes had been recorded and that result worried Ikin.
“Voting is consistent with local government, central government and even land trust elections.
“Getting people to vote is the biggest issue we have.
“Most of our people live here [Hamilton] and the situation is just too important for people not to take a little bit of time to have their say.”
Ikin said turn out at the consultation hui had been good and there had also been keen participation from those online, when the hui had been streamed.
“What we need to do is translate that engagement into voting, so people can be part of shaping our future, this is their chance.”
Feedback from the hui
The 14 consultation hui gave Ikin an account of the concerns iwi members had about the settlement.
Some were worried about the historical account used to progress the settlement, others didn’t want to lose their ability to take a lead on important issues in their own communities, when the new governance entity was established.
There were also a few groups who wanted to lead their own, separate settlement negotiations.
“There has been a vast amount of history brought together over the last 30 years and that has been produced into five reports for the [Waitangi] Tribunal.
“It has been the foundation of our settlement and some members asked why other historical accounts have been left out.
“It’s just not possible to record the full details of the impact of the Government’s actions that our people have suffered from.
“But what came out of the hui was that we should make our history available to all of our people in the future, we need to make sure our history isn’t left behind and that it becomes part of our school curriculum.”
Ikin said the new governance entity would “enshrine” the tribe’s traditional role of having whanau and marae take a lead on important issues, like resource consents, conservation and land use, in their own areas.
“It will be a balance between working as a confederation which gives us strength, and also having that local decision making.”
Ikin said separate Treaty claims would lead to an “intergenerational scrap” which would require attempting to define boundaries and identities, for example.
“So we’ve taken the united approach to the settlement because in our view it has always been how we have existed in our region.”
Anger and hurt
Ikin said it had been a “privilege and an exhausting experience” to lead the board’s work on the Treaty settlement.
“The best thing is, that you're interacting with your people. You hear all of the anger, the hurt and sometimes that gets directed at you personally.
“But all that anger and hurt is justified. The best thing we can do for our people is try to find a way forward that is going to be the best outcome for all of us.”
There had been some tough decisions made and not everyone would get what they wanted out of the settlement. Finding common ground was the key.
“It’s not the workload that’s exhausting, it’s the fact you can’t just listen to your people, their anguish and leave it behind at the end of the hui.
“It goes with you, and it means you wake up at 2am thinking, how the heck are we going to do this?”
Timeline for settlement
If Ngāti Maniapoto voted to accept the Deed of Settlement and the proposal to set up the Post Settlement Governance Entity, Ikin expected the settlement to be signed and made into law by the end of 2021.
The trust board would become the interim caretaker and over the next 18 months would be closed as the new governance entity was established.
A five year plan would be formed to guide the iwi into a new chapter of their history and to hold the new governance entity to account.
“There are some critical issues facing our people right now, in terms of health and wellbeing of our environment, health and education of people and housing.
“The governance entity will look to be a part of the solution for those issues.”
Ikin said there were some immediate issues that needed to be addressed balanced against growing the settlement for the future of the tribe.
“There are people at home carrying a huge load in terms of being the ones there when we return to our marae, being there at tangihana, being there to speak on the paepae.
“They are the holders of our history and knowledge and it’s really important we support them.
“But also we’ve got to proactively provide opportunities for our families to come back home to live, those could be providing opportunities around employment, housing and education.
“There is certainly a lot to be done.”