February 06, 2014
Ngati Kuri signs settlement for now
Ngati Kuri is gathering at Ngataki this morning to sign its treaty settlement.
The ceremony comes 27 years after the Waitangi Tribunal started the Muriwhenua Claim hearings, and 17 years after it reported.
The negotiations, which dragged on for years after the Crown refused to deal with the claimant collective and instead went back to the individual tribes, has resulted in a settlement that includes $21 million in commercial redress.
Cultural redress includes acknowledgement of its interests in Te Oneroa a Tohe 90 Mile Beach and the conservation estate.
Ngati Kuri chair Harry Burkhardt says it represents a fraction of what the tribe lost and doesn’t address issues of justice.
"We don’t see the package as dealing with the justice around the process. We’ve always viewed (settlements) as political compacts, and despite the crown wanting to make them full and final, we are not bound by that. Next generations will take a different view of what the treaty settlement process looks like so they have the liberty to take a different tack if they wish," he says.
Harry Burkhardt says a priority is to fix Ngati Kuri’s broken relationship with the Crown.
Copyright © 2014, UMA Broadcasting Ltd