January 14, 2014
Maori Council to report at Waitangi
The New Zealand Maori Council intends to use next month’s Waitangi hui to report back to te ao Maori on its activities over the past year.
Co-chair Maanu Paul says it will also use the annual gathering of Maoridom in the Bay of Islands to put the Government on notice about what it intends to do in the year ahead.
In 2013 the council took its water claims on behalf of Maori to the Supreme Court, extracting concessions from the Government that it would appropriately recognise any customary Maori interests in water as determined by a full Waitangi Tribunal hearing.
Its appointees challenged the way the Crown Forestry Rental Trust has become a Crown agency rather than one that upholds the rights of claimants.
It also rallied support from around the country against what it saw as an attempt by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to abolish it or reduce its effectiveness by rewriting the Maori Community Development Act.
“The major issue for the council is to consolidate the role it has had since 1962, and that is self-government by Maori for Maori. That’s what we want to do in future,” Mr Paul says.
“That leads to the need for a review of post-settlement treaty legislation. The legislation has been written by the Crown and imposed on Maori, and the settlements won’t survive unless it is changed.”
The Maori fisheries settlement trust, Te Ohu Kaimoana, is undertaking such a review this year, under the provisions of the Maori Fisheries Act that called for a 10-year review.
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