Ngai Tahu and Waikato get $35m in Treaty top-ups from Govt

Treaty Negotations Minister Andrew Little says further top-ups will be given to iwi as other settlements are completed. Photo / George Novak

The Government has topped up Ngai Tahu and Waikato-Tainui's Treaty settlements by $35m to bring them into line with other agreements.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little said the payments ensured the value of the two iwi's settlements maintained their relative size compared with all other Treaty settlements.

Ngai Tahu, which settled with the Crown in 1998, received another $18.7m and Waikato Tainui, which settled in 1995, received another $16.6m. That is on top of separate top-ups worth a total of $370 million in 2017.

"This process is about maintaining the agreed relativity between the settlements agreed with Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu and the total value of all historical Treaty settlements, Little said.

"That was the undertaking made by the Crown in 1995 and 1997 when these settlements were reached, and we must honour it."

He added: "It's important to get these payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu right. The Crown is committed to honouring the contractual nature of the Relativity Mechanism clauses."

Both iwis' settlements include relativity clauses which ensure that they do not diminish in relative value. They can apply every five years to check whether the settlements are still worth 17 per cent (Waikato) and 16 per cent (Ngai Tahu) of the total value of all settlements.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament, Little said there could be further top-ups as other iwi settled their agreements.

"There is more to come. It's hard to say, we've got roughly 50 settlements left to go, including Ngapuhi, which is the big one.

"But that is the intention over the next three years, to get all those 50 settled. That will have an impact on Ngai Tahu and Tainui and they'll get access to further top-ups."