Waikaremoana lakebed lease to Government up for renewal

The DOC-owned Waikaremoana Holiday Park partly occupies the lake-bed lease of Lake Waikaremoana.

Negotiations are due to start for the lease of Lake Waikaremoana's lakebed and foreshore.

A 50-year iwi lease to the Government falls due in July, with the Government holding a right of renewal.

Wairoa Waikaremoana Trust Board and Tuhoe have had preliminary discussions with the Department of Conservation.

Ngati Kahungunu holds a minority ownership in the lakebed. Waikaremoana Tribal Authority chairman Lance Winitana said Ngati Kahungunu was sent an invitation to discuss the matter.

Tuhoe Te Uru Taumatua chairman Tamati Kruger said some scoping meetings were held with DoC.

"They have just given us a very short-form guideline for the process they have with these matters, so we are just starting off the discussions," he said.

"DoC is interested to know, if we were to go to a new lease, what we are looking at/what we are thinking about.

"So we are asking each other the same question - what do you think about it? What's this lease for? What's going on?"

Ownership of the lakebed was a battle the iwi won by retaining ownership, but the Government won the war by imposing the lakebed lease through the Lake Waikaremoana Act 1971, with the lease retrospective to 1967.

Treasury documents shows an annual payment of $241,000 for the Waikaremoana Lakebed Lease.

The DoC-owned, Tuhoe-managed Waikaremoana Holiday Park straddles both the lease area and Te Urewera National Park. A major renovation is planned for its accommodation over winter.

In the 19th century Maori settlements in the area were burned and people killed as Urewera Maori land was taken by the Crown for perceived rebellious acts.

The Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 promised tribal control and ownership of remaining lands but it was never honoured.

A poverty-stricken population did not have the resource to fight the matter in court and forced government encroachments continued.

Crown-acquired lands that were no good for farming or mining were consolidated to form Te Urewera National Park, with iwi excluded from the process.

Tuhoe's blood-stained heritage at the hands of Government returned to the national consciousness in 2007 after an armed-police raid following claims of terrorist training camps.

The Police Commissioner publicly apologised for the actions of officers during the raid and no such charges were laid.

Lake Waikaremoana was not included in Tuhoe's 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement, which included a historical account, an admission of government injustices and apology, the co-governance of Te Urewera lands and financial, commercial and cultural redress of about $170 million.

A DoC spokesperson said Clause 6 of the lease required any renewed lease to be on the same terms and conditions as the current lease, including a 50-year term and a covenant for renewal.

"However, the parties may agree to substitute some other period in any renewed lease."

Complicating the matter further is a Ngati Ruapani claim of lakebed ownership.