Concerns raised at Ngāpuhi hui with Andrew Little and Nanaia Mahuta

The room was packed for the hui in Waitangi with Ministers Andrew Little and Nanaia Mahuta. Photo / Supplied

Messages about Ngāpuhi sovereignty and the need for leadership were sent to the Government during a packed hui with Ministers Andrew Little and Nanaia Mahuta on Sunday.

The ministers held an open hui at the Copthorne Waitangi following announcements the Crown had removed its recognition of Tūhoronuku's mandate and would work closely with iwi groups over the next six months to establish a new process for building "new and sustainable mandates" for negotiation.

Ngāti Hine leader Pita Tipene said it was made clear to Little at the hui that it was important for the Government to have a separate conversation with hapū about the Waitangi Tribunal's report which found Ngāpuhi did not cede sovereignty to the Crown.

"Basically they were saying sovereignty is not up for negotiation," he said.

Other concerns that emerged were around the March 2020 deadline hapū groups have been given to submit proposals on how to negotiate cultural redress packages.

Tipene was also concerned the cash from settlement would go to one bank account but said a way around this would be if the Government could ensure there were certainties that groupings of hapū would receive their rightful share.

But Little said issues of redress were a matter of negotiation.

"Ngāpuhi hapū are expected to want maximum value. The Crown wants common issues to be dealt with together. What happens over time is also a matter for negotiation," he said.

Little also said the Crown agreed the issue around sovereignty needed to be addressed and it believed that would be best done through a collective conversation with Ngāpuhi.

He said the deadlines reflected the fact a number of hapū groupings said they were ready to engage with the Crown immediately.

Meanwhile Nga Māreikura o Ngāpuhi - a group of women who were brought together by shared frustration over "a lack of effective leadership and progress" - told the minister they were "more than prepared to take up the reins".

Ngāpuhi kuia Titewhai Harawira said they were "tired of being told to sit down and shut up".

"We are the ones who do all the actual work around here and we are sick of going nowhere," she said.

The group have met a number of times following the sudden and unexplained resignation of Sonny Tau as Te Rūnanga ā Iwi o Ngāpuhi chairman and Hone Sadler as Tūhoronuku chairman.

The group said they knew their communities better than anyone and called for Little to work with them.