Ngapuhi hui on settlement

Two hui in Auckland today will be the first of 20 meetings which the Ngapuhi Runanga's Tuhoronuku committee is holding around New Zealand and across the Tasman to seek a mandate to represent the iwi in Treaty settlement negotiations with the Crown.

Tuhoronuku has also mailed voting packs to almost 30,000 of the 122,214 Ngapuhi recorded in the 2006 census. The mandate polling process is being managed by Christchurch-based Electionz.com, which also ran the local government elections last year.

Sixty per cent of Ngapuhi live in Auckland and about 13 per cent live in Northland. Runanga chairman Raniera "Sonny" Tau said every year settlement was delayed was a year of wasted opportunity for Ngapuhi, "especially our young people".

"It is time for Ngapuhi to take their rightful place in Aotearoa and become an economic force that is able to provide cultural, social and education advancement," Mr Tau said.

A Horizon Research survey which Tuhoronuku commissioned in June to gauge how Ngapuhi were thinking found 91per cent of those surveyed wanted to negotiate a settlement, 69 per cent supported Tuhoronuku holding the mandate and 50 per cent wanted settlement negotiations to continue in parallel with Waitangi Tribunal hearings.

Four Tuhoronuku mandate hui are being held at Auckland and one each at Wellington, Nelson, Invercargill, Perth and Sydney. The other 11 mandate hui will be held in Northland, beginning on August 31 at Whakamaharatanga Marae, Waimamaku, from 10am-1pm, and Pukerata Marae, Otaua, from 6.30pm-9.30pm.

On September 1, hui will be held at Pikite Aroha Marae, Okaihau, from 10am-1pm and at Mahuhukiterangi Marae, Tautoro, from 6.30-9.30pm.

September 2 hui will be at Parihaka Marae, Kaikohe, from 10am-1pm and in the Kawakawa Primary School hall at 6.30pm-9.30pm.

On September 3 there will be two hui at the Kaeo Rugby Club from 10am-1pm and 6.30-9.30pm.

There will be two hui in the Whangarei Cricket Pavilion at similar times on September 5.

The last of the Northland hui will be at Flames International Hotel at Onerahi in Whangarei from 10am-1pm on September 6.

For more information go to www.tuhoronuku.com or call 0508 666 447.