Ngapuhi debate who represents iwi

Waitangi Tribunal intervention in the Ngapuhi mandating process is unnecessary, Ngapuhi Runanga chairman Sonny Tau says.

Mr Tau, who is also interim chairman of the runanga's Tuhoronuku committee seeking a mandate to negotiate the tribe's Treaty settlement with the Crown, said deciding who represented Ngapuhi and whether to start settlement negotiations was a matter for Ngapuhi, not the tribunal, to resolve.

His comments came after Rotorua lawyer Jason Pou, representing hapu aligned with Te Kotahitanga o nga Hapu Ngapuhi, had applied for an urgent tribunal inquiry into the mandating system.

Mr Pou claimed animosity at Tuhoronuku hui in Auckland at the weekend was putting people at risk of physical harm.

Tuhoronuku is polling members of Ngapuhi for support in its bid to secure a mandate to hold direct negotiations which would produce a lump-sum Treaty settlement for the tribe.

Te Kotahitanga says settlement is about mana, not money. It wants the stage two hearings which the Waitangi Tribunal is organising for its Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry into Ngapuhi Treaty claims.

Asked yesterday about the fate of Mr Pou's application, Justice Ministry senior media advisor Stephanie Melville said the ministry's Waitangi Tribunal unit was unable to provide any information regarding timelines for processing the claim, or its associated application for urgency.

"The tribunal's role is to inquire into breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

"The tribunal does not involve itself in resolving intra-iwi disputes," she said.

Mr Tau said he did not believe there were any grounds for the tribunal interfering with Ngapuhi's right to determine its own future.

"The Ngapuhi mandate process is transparent, democratic and robust," he said.

"If Ngapuhi give Tuhoronuku a mandate, discussions on the management of the next stage will begin with Ngapuhi and settlement negotiations will begin with the Crown."

Meanwhile, the Tuhoronuku representative for Ngapuhi living in Wellington, Ben Dalton, will be at the Parawhenua Marae at Waimate North at 10am today to explain why Tuhoronuku is seeking a mandate for the Treaty claims process.