COMMENT:
The media, our PM and even Māori MPs do not appear to know important history, very relevant to how the current tragic situation at Ihumātao has come about.
The greatest gap in historical knowledge is the misunderstanding that there has been a finalised Waitangi Tribunal claim and settlement at Ihumātao. Therefore, the Government is claiming that issues at Ihumātao cannot be further discussed, litigated or reopened because of the precedent it would create. This is not historically supported by evidence held by the Crown. The fact is, there has not been any such Waitangi settlement of the Wai 8 1986 Manukau area claim, so attempts now to find a just solution are not constrained by a previous full and final Treaty settlement over this land.
The tragedy of this case is that the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act allowed only claims from 1975 onwards at the time. Unfortunately, Ihumātao was comprehensively discussed in the Wai 8 1986 Manukau claim, evidence and hearings at exactly the same time as the Act was changed to allow claims back to 1840. Wai 8 was lodged in 1985 by Dame Nganeko Minhinnick on behalf of the Waiohua tribal collective of Ihumātao hapu; Te Akitai, Te Ahiwaru and Waiohua iwi of Ngati te Ata and Ngati Tamaoho. The Tribunal reported in July 1986. Sian Elias, our former Chief Justice, was Te Waiohu's leading lawyer. During this 1975-1985 period, claims and issues that occurred before 1975 could not be ruled on - some said even heard - by the Tribunal.
Although the Tribunal heard evidence of George Grey's unprovoked attack on these communities, the unjust confiscations and terrible things the Crown did at Ihumātao, Mangere, Manurewa, Karaka and Waiuku, between 1840 and 1975, it was legally prevented from making them formal claims or findings or recommendations of reparations. The Wai 8 Tribunal report did however suggest very strongly that the Crown needed to find a way of redressing the land confiscations and other illegal and immoral actions outside the formal findings.