April 26, 2016
Ownership question must come before allocation policy
A lawyer for the New Zealand Maori Council says the Waitangi Tribunal is the only body that can give Maori a proper hearing over their water claims.
After three years of stalling by the crown, the tribunal has decided it will start hearings in September on part two of the claims, which deal with how the crown can give expression to the property rights identified in the first part of the claim, which was about the partial privatisation of the state-owned power generating companies.
Donna Hall says the crown was asking for another year to develop policy on water allocation, including consulting further with the Freshwater iwi Leaders Group.
She says that's a further diversion from the real issues.
"The council doesn't see proposals of allocation of water to be a substitute for determining the property interest, the proprietary interest. The council did argue it really was time now for the tribunal to allow the hearing to proceed and that I think is why we finally after all this time have been given a hearing and we are pretty pleased to have achieved it," Ms Hall says.
As well as presenting examples of water being taken from Maori-owned springs for bottling, such as at Poroti near Whangarei, the hearing will also look at who has the right to exploit the geothermal fields under Maori-owned land.
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