Brash 'stirring' on lakes deal

Prime Minister Helen Clark says Don Brash is "grandstanding and stirring".

She rejected his suggestion that the Rotorua lakes deal is "a Trojan Horse", saying each treaty settlement claim was negotiated on its own merits "and with the objective of upholding the public interest".

"You are dealing with the lakes being at the very centre of interest for those iwi."

What was important was the public's existing rights being maintained.

She said Rotorua as a tourist destination "owes a tremendous amount to the people of Arawa".

Tourists visited Rotorua primarily to see Whakarewarewa and Ohinemutu, the village on the edge of the lake associated with the 28 Maori Battalion.

"So much of what we know as Rotorua today and what draws people to it is about the relationship that city has with Arawa."

National's decision to oppose the lake deal is in contrast to the deal it signed with Tuwharetoa in 1992 which vested the title of Taupo's lake bed in the tribe and gave it co-management rights.

The Government prefers to get cross-party support for treaty settlements but, with the almost certain support of the Greens, the deal will not be in jeopardy when it comes before Parliament in a legislative form.

United Future leader Peter Dunne said he could not give even an indicative view of his party's position because it had not yet discussed it with the Government.

Act MP Ken Shirley said his party had long opposed the Rotorua lakes deal on the grounds it re-opened a full and final settlement in 1922 which vested ownership of the lake in the Crown and paid compensation.

Mr Shirley said National's treaty settlements negotiator Sir Douglas Graham "got a bit too carried away" with some of his settlements and Jim Bolger's Government went along with them.

"Don's trying to reposition that, clearly."