July 31, 2014
New leadership for north
Ngapuhi Runanga chair Sonny Tau says the appointment of people to the body that will oversee treaty settlement negotiations in the north is a major step forward.
As a condition for Tuhoronuku being recognised as the mandated body, the crown required that it be reconstituted to include more hapu representatives, and fresh elections be held.
Mr Tau, who has been acting chair and takes the runanga seat on the body, says the process has served a 22-strong group which is well balanced in terms of gender, experience and ability.
"This is what this journey is about. It’s about the people actually leading it and I’m really happy with the people we have got on board. There’s a lot who were initially opposed and there were a lot of hapu kaikorero out there who put their names up who were opposed but we’ve come up with this lot and we’ve got to be satisfied with that," he says.
The reconstituted Tuhoronuku meets next month to elect a chair and deputy chair, pick negotiators and start to work towards signing terms of negotiations with the Crown.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH SONNY TAU CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjA2NzA=
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