Donna Hall's Volcanic Interior Plateau claim for most of the central North Island is potentially the biggest Maori land claim yet.
It covers the entire Bay of Plenty, the central plateau down to Waiouru and parts of the East Coast and Waikato, with compensation potentially topping $2 billion.
Led by Hall and
Wellington lawyer Ian Millard, QC, more than 100 individuals, tribes and hapu - including Te Arawa and the Mataatua Waka Confederation of Tribes (most Bay of Plenty and Taupo tribes) and Tuhoe groups - have joined forces.
They seek the return of seven forests totalling 165,000ha, including the country's largest, Kaingaroa, and all lakebeds, riverbeds and waterways within the area not already returned.
Fourteen lakes in the Rotorua district, plus Lake Waikaremoana and part of Tongariro National Park, are part of the claim, which is also expected to include geothermal resources such as Orakei-Korako near Taupo and Whakarewarewa in Rotorua, hydro power stations and manmade lakes such as Atiamuri and Matahina.
The Volcanic Interior Plateau claim's principal basis is the "total loss" of customary land ownership and "severe loss" of other lands through Treaty of Waitangi breaches by the Crown. The grievances date to 1866, when about 16,200ha of eastern Bay of Plenty land was taken under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863.
The claim states that the loss of further land, forestry, lakes and waterways and geothermal areas cost Maori the right to use modern technology to develop the resources to increase their prosperity and living standards.
Cutting rights to the forest land covered by the claim were sold for $2.25 billion under the Crown Forest Assets Act 1989, which leased state forests to private companies.
The Waitangi Tribunal could make a mandatory order, which the Government must obey, to compensate the claimants for up to 100 per cent of the value of these rights.
The claim also seeks up to $500 million based on the value of the forestry land and $128 million in rent accumulated on the forests.
Any settlement above $1 billion would trigger relativity clauses in the $170 million settlements already agreed by Tainui and Ngai Tahu. Both tribes would get an extra 17c for every extra dollar paid to other claimants.
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Donna Hall's Volcanic Interior Plateau claim for most of the central North Island is potentially the biggest Maori land claim yet.
It covers the entire Bay of Plenty, the central plateau down to Waiouru and parts of the East Coast and Waikato, with compensation potentially topping $2 billion.
Led by Hall and
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