New approach considered for Treaty settlement

Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson met with representatives of Te Kotahitanga over the weekend in a bid to try to get a breakthrough on the settlement.

The Government is to meet with the two groupings of hapu at loggerheads over Ngapuhi's Treaty settlement in a bid to get a breakthrough on stalled settlement negotiations.

Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson met with representatives of Te Kotahitanga over the weekend - a group of hapu which oppose the mandate given to Tuhoronuku to negotiate the settlement.

Mr Finlayson has also put Tuhoronuku on notice it may lose the mandate if it can not get broader support from the hapu in Ngapuhi. The three parties have agreed to meet together to try to find a way ahead.

Mr Finlayson said aim of the meeting was to try to get some unity after years of friction.

"It's never going to be easy, but there seems to be actually at this time an opportunity for productive discussions."

He still hoped to achieve one overarching Ngapuhi settlement.

"I'm interested in getting a just and durable settlement with Ngapuhi and there are ways to skin that particular cat."

One possibility was working with both groups towards one settlement, as happened with Ngati Kahungungu, to ensure each hapu got its fair share of the 'putea' [money and resources]. He had raised that with Te Kotahitanga as a possibility.

"So they may want to see those matters as a way forward."

Mr Finlayson said Tuhoronuku's mandate was conditional on hapu support.

"We have to work through the mandate thing very carefully and not cut corners. Once that's done, I really do believe that if we get unity breaking out in the North, we will move to an Agreement in Principle pretty quickly."

Mr Finlayson's decision to engage further with Tuhoronuku followed a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the mandate which said all hapu needed to agree they were being represented in the negotiations. It also followed upheaval in Tuhorunuku following the resignation as chair by Sonny Tau, who faces charges of smuggling kereru.

The groups have been at odds since before Tuhoronuku got the mandate in February 2014 - something Kotahitanga immediately challenged at the Waitangi Tribunal. Tuhoronuku chair Hone Sadler said last week that the group had set up a hapu engagement committee to engage with hapu and groups currently outside the settlement waka and early signs were encouraging.

Te Kotahitanga spokesman Rudy Taylor said the hapu - including Ngati Hine and Hokianga hapu - would meet on October 27 and expected a meeting with the Crown and Tuhoronuku in the weeks after that. He had told Mr Finlayson the group hoped to resolve issues around the negotiating process by Waitangi Day next year.

Mr Finlayson said while the Crown was ready to settle it could not force Ngapuhi into it.

"I'm not pushing people. I've got enough work going on in my world without dragooning Ngapuhi into a settlement, So if they want to spend the next ten years having a scrap, good luck to them."

He has previously said his ambition is to remain as Treaty Minister until all historic settlements are completed but the frustration with Ngapuhi was clearly begin to show.

"I'm not interested in jewels in mr crown. At the end of the day I just try and do my job. If it's some other sucker who takes this on, so be it."

National originally had a target of completing all historic settlements by the end of 2014 but has extended that to 2017.