Decades-long Ngāti Ranginui Treaty of Waitangi claim settled in Parliament

A group of 60 flew to Wellington for the third reading of the settlement bill. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

• The Ngāti Ranginui Claims Settlement Bill had its third reading in Parliament, ending a decades-long process.
• The settlement involves 10 hapū and about 30 Treaty claims, with properties returned for various uses.
• An outstanding settlement around the Tauranga Moana Harbour remains, with a framework for future contributions.

The Ngāti Ranginui Claims Settlement Bill had its third reading in Parliament today, marking the end of a decades-long journey.

The Crown has settled a 17-year negotiation process with iwi of Tauranga as the Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui Claims Settlement Bill passed the third reading, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith said in a statement.

The settlement includes financial and commercial redress of $38 million, return of 15 sites of cultural significance, two properties of cultural significance vested jointly with other iwi and relationship redress with key Crown agencies.

“This has been a long time coming and I thank the Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui Settlement Trust and the negotiating team for their enduring efforts,” Goldsmith said.

“While no settlement can fully compensate for the Crown’s injustices towards Ngāti Ranginui, I sincerely hope this redress package will support Ngāti Ranginui to realise their economic and cultural aspirations for generations to come.”

The redress includes an agreed historical account, Crown acknowledgements of its historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and a Crown apology.

In 1990, 10 Ngāti Ranginui hapū began presenting their claims, Ngāhapū and Ngāti Ranginui Settlement Trust chairman, Te Pio Kawe, told SunLive.

The claimants were Ngāti Te Wai, Pirirākau, Ngāi Te Ahi, Ngāti Taka, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hangarau, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Ruahine, Ngāi Tamarawaho, Ngāti Pango, along with Ngāti Ranginui, he said.

“It has been a huge journey for the 10 hapū,” Kawe said.

These groups represented about 30 individual Treaty claims, but they decided to bring all their hearings together collectively, Kawe said.

In 2012, Ngāti Ranginui signed the agreement in principle with the Crown, and it took 13 years for the bill to be settled in Parliament.

Chairman of Ngāhapū and Ngāti Ranginui Settlement Trust, Te Pio Kawe. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford

“A lot of people have participated in this process, and a lot of people haven’t made it through to the end.”

Kawe said after this bill was settled, there would still be an outstanding settlement around Tauranga Moana Harbour.

That settlement was a piece of legislation that provided a framework for all hapū and iwi to contribute to the wellbeing of the harbour.

Around 200 tangata whenua gathered in Wellington to hear Goldsmith read the bill.

The reading began at 11am, and the group stayed overnight on the Pipitea Marae before being welcomed into Parliament.

Kawe said the change would occur in a tiered approach, with some properties returned to hapū for them to manage.

Some properties would be for residential, commercial and cultural redress, Kawe said.

As part of the settlement bill, the Crown acknowledged it failed to protect Ngāti Ranginui interests in lands they wished to retain.

Purchase of land blocks in Te Puna and Katikati were done in breach of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi, according to the bill.

It also acknowledged that a scorched-earth policy was inflicted by the Crown on Ngāti Ranginui during the 1867 Te Weranga (bush campaign).

The Ngāti Ranginui Claims Settlement included 15 properties in the Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga regions, covering a total of about 890.73 hectares.

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Dean Purcell

Margaret Jackson Wildlife Management Reserve near Bethlehem would share its name with Te Wharepoti.

The name of Jess Road Wildlife Management Reserve was changed to Te Wahapū o Te Hopuni Wildlife Management Reserve.

These lands were primarily designated as scenic or recreation reserves under the Reserves Act 1977.

Several sites are subject to easements, guiding and hunting permits, plant pest control trials or historic grazing arrangements.

Te Hopuni is set aside for use as a cultural centre. The properties reflected a mix of cultural, conservation and recreational purposes.

Goldsmith said the settlement acknowledged the Crown’s breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi, “including its responsibility for war and raupatu in Tauranga in the 1860s, the purchase of Te Puna-Katikati blocks soon after, the operation and impact of the native land laws, and the compulsory acquisition of land under later Māori land legislation that left Ngāti Ranginui without sufficient land for their present and future needs”.

“I want to acknowledge the people of Ngāti Ranginui who have travelled to Parliament today to witness this auspicious occasion and those who watched the passing of this bill online from Tauranga.”

Ngāti Ranginui is an iwi based in the Tauranga region with a population of approximately 15,000 people.

Its area of interest extended from Ngakuriawharei, north of Tauranga, inland to the summit of Mount Te Aroha, south-east along the Kaimai Range to Puwhenua and reaching south to the Mangorewa River.