Kaumātua Rore Stafford has been the driver of a long-running legal claim against the Crown for the return of land to descendants of Māori in the top of the South Island. Image / NZME composite
Kaumātua Rore Stafford has been the driver of a long-running legal claim against the Crown for the return of land to descendants of Māori in the top of the South Island. Image / NZME composite
One of New Zealand’s oldest property law claims has finally been settled with the Crown handing back promised land to Māori in the top of the South Island.
In a deal signed at Parliament this morning, Attorney General Judith Collins and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced the return of 3068ha of land to descendants of its original owners following a long-standing private litigation.
Conservation land within the Abel Tasman National Park plus the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve will be returned to Te Tauihu (top of the South Island) Māori, alongside a $420 million payment to cover the shortfall of land that was not able to be provided.
The map showing land in Nelson-Tasman being returned to the descendants of the original owners in a historic deal signed with the Crown on December 17, 2025. Image / supplied
The assets will be transferred to Te Here-ā-Nuku Trust, which will manage them on behalf of the customary owners.
The deal, which did not include any privately-owned land and will not restrict public access to land being returned, was roughly half the acreage sought in the 180-year grievance.
Grievance over Nelson Tenths rumbling for almost two centuries
Māori have since the 1840s pleaded with the Crown to honour an original agreement to reserve 15,100 acres of land as the Nelson Tenths Reserves during settlement by the NZ Company.
The tenths were parcels of land which the Crown was meant to hold in trust for the land’s customary owners, but the Crown failed to keep its side of the deal, Collins acknowledged today.
Nelson-based Wakatū Incorporation has funded the legal case brought by kaumātua Rore Stafford on behalf of customary landowners.
Wakatū Inc former CEO, Kerensa Johnston told NZME after this morning’s signing it was difficult to overestimate how momentous it was for all signing the resolution agreement in Wellington.
“It’s just been such a long journey and we’ve always been so hopeful that we would get here for our whānau and for our region and we have.
“So, yes, it’s a huge day for us.”
She said Stafford was resolute and grounded as always.
“He’s just incredibly thrilled that the litigation has come to an end, that the outcome that he’s worked and others have worked so hard for is finally here.
Johnston, joined Wakatū in 2012 as general counsel before she was appointed its CEO in 2016 and then stepped down earlier this year.
She spoke today in her capacity as a Te Here-ā-Nuku trustee.
She told NZME earlier that for her personally, the Nelson Tenths had always been a critical piece of work that had run alongside all the other work done by Wakatū in the region.
She said that fundamentally, they had approached the legal argument as anyone might today over property protection laws.
“We said, ‘just keep applying the same law that you’d apply to any breach of trust situation where there are clear legal obligations that need to be fulfilled’.”
The grievance gained traction in 2010 when Stafford brought a private property litigation against the Crown.
In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled the Crown had a legal duty to right the wrongs.
The High Court was then tasked with determining the extent of the Crown’s breaches, any defences it had and remedies.
In October last year, it ruled that iwi from the top of the South Island were entitled to thousands of hectares of Crown land and millions of dollars in compensation
The Crown then announced last November it was appealing the decision.
Wakatu Incorporation former chief executive Kerensa Johnston said they had approached the legal argument as anyone might today over property protection laws. Photos / Kate MacPherson (Wakatu Incorporation)
But today the long-running saga of the Nelson Tenths Reserves has finally ended, after the two parties began formal, confidential discussions in August with a view to settling the litigation.
In November 2025, they reached a two-part settlement agreement confirming that about 3068ha be retained by the trust, with the remaining land to be returned to the Crown, and the compensation to cover the shortfall.
Collins said it settled a private claim, which was different from Treaty settlements from historical claims over breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
“In this case, we are simply returning land to its rightful and legal owners,” she said.
Potaka said the Department of Conservation had worked with the (land) owners to ensure ongoing public access to this special part of New Zealand.
“The Abel Tasman Great Walk, the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve and wider conservation areas will remain open, with all bookings and access continuing as normal,” he said.
“Visitors, tourism operators, and local communities can be assured there will be no immediate changes to access or day-to-day use.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Attorney-General Judith Collins with kaumātua Rore Stafford and his wife Lynne Stafford during the signing at Parliament to settle the long-running Nelson Tenths legal case. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
The agreement allowed the Crown to lease back some of the land currently being used for important public purposes.
Collins said the Government was pleased to resolve what she described as a “unique private law case”.
“I want to acknowledge Mr Stafford and his whānau, and to thank them for their patience across many years.”
Wakatū Inc said there were some outstanding matters to work through with respect to specific parcels of land and all were committed to resolving these details.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
