Te Arawa deal seen as 'payback' for working with Government

Haami Piripi

The Te Arawa land settlement has been labelled a payback for a history of working with the Government. Haami Piripi, Treaty of Waitangi negotiator for Kaitaia-based Te Rarawa, has called for consistency from the Government in how it determines compensation for treaty claims.

About 500 Te Arawa tribal members and Government ministers gathered at Rotorua's Te Pakira Marae on Saturday for the signing of the deed of settlement for the tribe's land claim.

The deal, the first to be struck through direct negotiations with the Crown, circumventing the Waitangi Tribunal, is estimated to be worth about $200 million.

The deal will return 50,000ha of Crown forest land, valued at about $175 million, more than 1000ha of land, including an island and three lake beds, and the chance to buy selected Crown-owned commercial properties and geothermal assets.

Mr Piripi said the Te Arawa settlement highlighted the inconsistency of the settlement process.

The Northland-based iwi is understood to be close to signing an agreement in principle with the Crown for its claim. The Government is understood to have offered the tribe, which has a population and tribal boundary about half that of Te Arawa, about $16 million in compensation.

Te Aupouri, another Northland iwi, is in the final stages of the negotiation process for a claim valued at $12 million.

Mr Piripi said the tribe would seek a review of the Crown's offer after the "new benchmark" set by the Te Arawa claim. "Iwi like Te Arawa have been active supporters of the Crown. I guess this highlights how important a tribe's historical relationship with the Government is in treaty negotiations."

By favouring a more adversarial approach to the Government during the land wars of the 1800s, Northland tribes now appeared to have affected their ability to strike such lucrative settlements.

Mr Piripi's concerns have been echoed by several iwi leaders, who wanted to get a better grasp of the Te Arawa deal before commenting.

However, most said the settlement highlighted the inadequacies of the negotiation process.

In 1994, the then National Government introduced a $1 billion cap, the fiscal envelope, on the amount the Crown was prepared to compensate iwi for treaty claims.

The $170 million Waikato settlement in 1995, compensation for treaty breaches including the confiscation of more than 500,000ha of tribal lands, was the first to be made under the new cap.