Crown urged to start treaty settlement with Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa

Thursday, 15 December 2022

The Waitangi Tribunal has found the Crown breached te Tiriti o Waitangi in its treatment of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa during the 19th and 20th century and recommended the Crown urgently negotiate a Treaty settlement.

In a new report as part of the Porirua ki Manawatū Inquiry (Wai 2200), released on Thursday, the Tribunal ruled the Crown’s actions, including how it handled the land where Kāpiti Coast Airport is located and land purchases in the late 1850s, breached Treaty principles and left significant prejudice that was still felt today.

The report, titled Waikanae, considered 17 claims brought on behalf of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa individuals, whānau, hapū, and iwi organisations concerning land issues, cultural sites and resources.

The Crown’s purchase of the 65,000-acre Wainui and Whareroa blocks from Paekākāriki in the south to Raumati Beach in 1858 and 1859 breached the principles of partnership and active protection, the report said, as it failed to inquire into the customary title before the purchases, forcing the sale on non-sellers without consent, and provided extremely inadequate reserves for future needs.

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“Those who opposed the Whareroa and Wainui purchases (when they found out about them) lost their land without their consent and without any payment.”

The Crown also breached the Treaty when it took land where Kāpiti Coast Airport is located under the Public Works Act in 1943 to build an aerodrome for the war effort and failed to consider offering surplus land back to the original owners when they privatised the airport in 1995.

The Crown had conceded earlier this year that it failed to meet Treaty obligations when surplus land was sold by the privatised airport in 1999.

The report also said the Crown breached Te Tiriti by allowing Waikanae town centre to be built on top of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa homes without adequately consulting or considering Māori interests, while the land acquisition for Hemi Matenga Memorial Park in Waikanae resulted in mana whenua unable to exercise tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga.

Other breaches also noted included the Crown threatening leaders at Waikanae to give up their support for the Kīngitanga (Māori King) movement with land confiscation in 1864, while native land laws resulted in rapid land loss, leaving most Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa owners “virtually landless” before 1930.

In its recommendation, the tribunal urged the Crown to start negotiating a settlement with the iwi to address the harm caused by its Treaty breaches.

“The Crown’s Treaty breaches in respect of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa have been serious and sustained over a long period of time, and the prejudicial effects have been highly significant,” the tribunal said. “We recommend that the Crown urgently negotiate a settlement of the claims and reform the offer-back provisions of the Public Works Act 1981.

“Although we have not made a specific recommendation for the return of Hemi Matenga Memorial Park, we urge the Crown to negotiate a co-governance arrangement and to consider the return of this land.”

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little said he welcomed the report.

“The report runs close to 900 pages and I will take time to carefully consider the report.”

Kāpiti Coast mayor Janet Holborow said the report marked a major milestone for the iwi and hapū.

“There will also be strong interest from our wider community in how central government will take action on the tribunal’s findings.”