Anxiety as claims report release nears

Ngapuhi hapu claimant group Te Kotahitanga has welcomed the imminent release of the Waitangi Tribunal's Stage One report into the iwi's treaty claims.

The Waitangi Tribunal is releasing the Stage One report for the Te Paparahi o te Raki (Ngapuhi) inquiry on Friday at Te Tii Marae in Waitangi, starting with a powhiri at 10am.

The report, regarded by Te Kotahitanga o nga Hapu Ngapuhi as crucial to validating and enhancing hapu claims for settlement of grievances, covers He Whakaputanga (the 1835 Declaration of Independence) and 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi matters dealt with at hearings more than three years ago.

The impending release has being greeted with both jubilation and some apprehension by Te Kotahitanga o nga Hapu Ngapuhi.

Te Kotahitanga co-chairman Pita Tipene said that the hapu and whanau of Tai Tokerau were elated because their case - which made up the Stage One Hearing - that sovereignty had never been ceded to the settler government had been heard in an independent inquiry that was the Waitangi Tribunal.

However, anxiety among the people was palpable, given that such tribunal reports were sometimes known to be vague and indifferent.

"We remain optimistic given that Ngapuhi-nui-tonu put forward a compelling case over five weeks in 2010-11," Mr Tipene said.

Te Kotahitanga had been formed in December 2009 when serious challenges faced the hapu and a meeting was held at the Te Kotahitanga marae in Kaikohe. Three key goals were outlined, which Kotahitanga had been committed to ever since, he said.

"Those goals were to prosecute the hearing into He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti and have the report tabled by the tribunal, to work with the claimant community to have the Stage 2 hearings heard through to completion, and to ensure that a united Ngapuhi Treaty Settlement was built on sound findings from that Stage 2 inquiry and with the mandate of hapu," he said.

"This also meant that stopping the Tuhoronuku regime became an indirect goal, given that Tuhoronuku sought to undermine the authority of hapu."

Rival claimant group Tuhoronuku said until the report is released and it has had time to study it, it is impossible to comment on its content or significance.