Waitangi Tribunal's three year report writing angers iwi

Top of the South iwi are angry that it will take the Waitangi Tribunal three years to write a report on treaty claims in Nelson-Marlborough.

The tribunal started hearing land claims from the Nelson-Marlborough region in 2000 and concluded hearings in March 2004.

National's Nelson MP Nick Smith said today that a report on the region's claims would not be completed until mid-2007 and that the delay was "bad news" for race relations.

Iwi spokesman Ropata Taylor, who is project manager for Wakatu Incorporation and was a claims coordinator during the treaty hearings, agreed with Dr Smith that the delay was unacceptable.

"It sends a message that in the scheme of things we are not a priority on the Government's radar and that's frustrating. We completed our hearings a significant time ago and the report is not due to 2007," Mr Ropata said.

Mr Ropata supported Dr Smith's concerns that the process had been bogged down saying that "most of the people who lodged the original claims for our region, the majority of them are now dead".

Iwi wanted a faster resolution to their claims, but Mr Ropata said they were prepared to wait.

"Best bet, we could enter into negotiation of settlements in four years' time, five years' time. That's a really long time it's frustrating but we are used to waiting.

"The problem we have without a tribunal report is that we are not clear about the Crown's position on the claimants. The ground beneath us can change, from our perspective it's really unfair."

Dr Smith claimed that the delay risked undermining the report's integrity. Tribunal members would have forgotten the hearings seven years earlier and some staff would have moved on or passed away, he said.

"In my view the quality of the report will be compromised considerably by the delay.

"If this step takes over three years, the total process will take decades. It just shows how sloppy and slow the whole tribunal process is.

"We would not accept these sort of delays in any other tribunal or court, so why should we accept it from the Waitangi Tribunal?"

Dr Smith said he had always been cynical about the more radical treaty claims made, but had consistently believed valid claims existed and these needed to be dealt with quickly.

Courts Minister Rick Barker, who is responsible the Waitangi Tribunal, and the tribunal's spokesperson were this morning both unavailable for comment.

- NZPA