John Key should explain why tribal ownership of Te Urewera National Park is "evil" as a starting point for Treaty negotiations, a Tuhoe leader says.
Talks broke down in May after the Prime Minister ruled out the handover, saying it was "unacceptable" despite months of Crown work on the issue.
Two weeks ago both parties agreed to re-enter negotiations and Tuhoe's chief negotiator, Tamati Kruger, said the tribe felt an explanation was a rational place to start.
"Everything is back on the table so if that is so, then we deserve an explanation about what evil does the PM see in sole vesting?
"We want to investigate it. We may get to the point of full understanding about his point of view and so we can go with confidence investigating other options. But at the moment we are asked to investigate other options by default, not by reason," Mr Kruger said.
The tribe was happy to be back in active discussions but hoped that Mr Key's role in negotiations would be clearly defined this time around.
"We've always remarked that we are negotiating with the Crown, not the Prime Minister. The Crown for us is the elected consciousness of New Zealand so through the Crown we're talking to the country. Through the Prime Minister we believe we're talking to the National Party."
Mr Kruger said it was unlikely a deal would be done before next year's election.
If it was not, Tuhoe would be talking to the Maori Party to see if completing it could become part of any coalition agreement should it find itself supporting a National government again.
The Herald was unable to get comment from Mr Key yesterday.
May's scuttled deal included a $120 million offer in which the Crown retained an option to take full management control of Te Urewera if ownership was vested in the tribe and featured the formation of a joint Crown/iwi park board based on past co-governance models.
At the time, Mr Key said a full vesting was not possible unless there was "another leg to that transaction".
A spokesman for Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson said he would not comment.
