Ngati Apa wins Privy Council case

1.00pm

South Island iwi Ngati Apa have won a Privy Council case challenging a 1990 Maori Appellate decision which decided Ngai Tahu's statutorily defined exclusive zone.

Ngati Apa Ki Te Ra To (South Island Ngati Apa) chief executive Laurie Duckworth, from Blenheim, said he was delighted to learn of the important decision from Ngati Apa chairwoman Kath Hemi in London this morning.

"It was our duty to the beneficiaries of Ngati Apa to take the case right to the door, if we had not done that then people would have said you only went so far but we went all the way and now we have pushed that door open," he said.

Ngai Tahu's Waitangi Tribunal claim was settled in 1998. The $170 million settlement recognised Ngai Tahu's territory boundary (rohe) as encompassing all of the South Island except a small triangle around Marlborough and Nelson.

The 1990 Maori Appellate Court decision set the basis for boundaries for the Ngai Tahu claim. The decision was the subject of much debate during the northern South Island Waitangi Tribunal process which was completed in March this year.

Mr Duckworth said Ngati Apa had always contended the 1990 decision was wrong since its inception and they had fought it for the last 14 years.

Ngati Apa claims to have customary rights to areas of West Coast land between Buller River and Kahurangi Point which fall into the region granted exclusively to Ngai Tahu and believe it is a treaty breach for the Crown to have allowed the exclusive rights to be granted.

Although the decision was a momentous one he did not think it would alter the Waitangi Tribunal report regarding the northern South Island claim area which was expected to be released in one year.

Ngati Apa's claim would be one of the final New Zealand cases heard by the London-based Privy Council.

Mr Duckworth said Ngati Apa had been greatly served by lawyers Ron Crosby and Quentin Davies who had done a tremendous job.

In 2002 Ngai Tahu lost its bid to prevent Te Tau Ihu iwi from laying claim to land within its rohe in the Waitangi Tribunal process after taking the issue to the Privy Council. Ngai Tahu won the right to defend its rohe in the tribunal inquiries last year.

An earlier Court of Appeal decision rejected the claims by Ngati Apa, and Ngati Rarua had rejected the claim to take an appeal to the Privy Council.

A Ngai Tahu spokesman was unavailable for comment.

- NZPA