A Crown requirement for Patu Hohepa to define whom he represents in Hokianga is "quite offensive", the Waitangi Tribunal has been told.
Dr Hohepa, a retired university professor and former Maori Language Commissioner, is a cultural and academic tohunga from the Mahurehure hapu of Ngapuhi in Hokianga. His lawyer, JasonPou, said in a memorandum filed with the tribunal on Thursday that the status of Dr Hohepa as a Hokianga leader was unquestionable and did not require further definition beyond that included in a tribunal claim in which Dr Hohepa and Rudy Taylor challenge treaty settlements planned for Te Rarawa and other Te Hiku Forum iwi.
The Wai 2344 claim filed by the two men asks the tribunal to urgently investigate their grievances during its Te Paparahi o Te Raki district inquiry. On Wednesday the Crown asked the tribunal to direct Messrs Taylor and Hohepa to specify whom they represented with their claim.
Mr Pou said the central question raised by the Crown was whether or not the challenge brought by his clients arose from within Te Rarawa or from outside.
"The submissions made by the Crown are in themselves divisive and seek to separate the peoples of Hokianga into classes of mandate disputers and overlapping claimants." Mr Pou said the Crown was well aware of Mr Taylor's Wai 549 treaty claim and his work as chairman of the Hokianga Claims Collective drew significant support from wider Hokianga.
However, the tribunal's deputy chairwoman, Judge Stephanie Milroy, said on Thursday she considered the Crown request for more information reasonable and she gave Messrs Taylor and Hohepa until noon on Wednesday to let the Crown know whom they represented. Judge Milroy also granted a Crown request for a time extension, giving it until December 16 to respond to the two men's request for the tribunal to urgently hear their grievances.
Meanwhile, a Hokianga hapu hui at Pakanae Marae on Saturday will update people on the progress of treaty claims and discuss stage two hearings of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki district inquiry.
