In October 2017 the Waitangi Tribunal released their report on the Ngātiwai Mandate Inquiry. The Tribunal found that the Crown breached:

• The principle of partnership and the duty of active protection by failing to protect actively the tino rangatiratanga of the hapū included in the Deed of Mandate; and
• The principle of equal treatment in relation to the hapū who remain within the mandate and have no realistic prospect of being able to withdraw compared with those hapū who were earlier allowed by the Crown to settle separately or that have been released from the mandate without explanation.

As a result, the Tribunal recommended that negotiations be paused so that mediation or facilitated discussions take place to debate the unsatisfactory elements of the Deed of Mandate.  If agreement is reached on a pathway forward then the Deed of Mandate should be amended and re-submitted to the parties, including the 12 hapū listed in the mandate for endorsement or rejection.  In the event of rejection by the parties the Tribunal then recommended withdrawal of the mandate and the setting up of a new entity such as a Rūnanga or taumata to represent all the hapū and groups in the inquiry district, whether or not they are Ngatiwai.  The Tribunal refers to this second process as the longer route.  In either case the Tribunal recommended that the Crown should fund these processes.

In February 2019, the Board approached the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations to request funding support for the mediation recommended by the Waitangi Tribunal.  We were then advised by the Minister to work with Crown officials to provide them with sufficient information to form the basis for funding to be approved.  We also asked that hapū be provided with independent funding to participate in the mediation on an equal footing.
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In September 2019, the Board wrote to update claimant hapū advising them of the funding that had been approved by the Minister for the Ngātiwai Trust Board to support the proposed mediation process including the costs of mediators/facilitators and other costs.  In May 2020, the Crown wrote to the hapū claimants advising them of their independent funding approval.
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As a result the Board have been working to reach out to request hui with hapū claimants either informally or formally to begin discussions about the proposed mediation.

In December 2019, the Waitangi Tribunal released their report on the Hauraki Settlement Overlapping Claims Inquiry. The Tribunal found that the Crown:

• Acted inconsistently with the Treaty principles of partnership and active protection;
• Had failed in its duties to act honourably and in good faith, and to avoid creating fresh grievances; and
• Failed in its obligation to protect or preserve amicable tribal relationships.

As a result, the Tribunal found that the Crown had prejudicially affected Ngātiwai and recommended that:

• the legislation giving effect to the Pare Hauraki Collective Settlement Deed, and the individual Hauraki iwi settlement deeds, do not proceed until the contented redress items have been through a proper overlapping claims tikanga-based process; and
• that the Crown, when undertaking such a process, fully commits to and facilitates consultation, information-sharing, and the use of tikanga-based resolution processes that reflect the principles identified by the Tribunal.

​Since the beginning of the year we have been actively communicating with all parties including the Crown and Hauraki groups.  A letter was sent to the Prime Minister in January where we sought assurance that the Tribunals recommendations would be followed. We also requested full Disclosure of all Current Overlapping Redress. We received a response from the Minister in February confirming that he does not intend to progress Hauraki settlement legislation and that his strong preference is to support and encourage iwi-led tikanga-based engagement on the disputed redress.

During March we went into the COVID-19 lockdown and as a result refocused our attention on our response to the pandemic and supporting our people. However, we did manage to keep abreast of Zoom hui taking place between Hauraki groups and Ngāti Manuhiri which resulted in a kanohi ki te kanohi hui after COVID-19 travel restrictions were relaxed. Ngāti Manuhiri have indicated that they are confident to get to resolution of their issues shortly.
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In May the Board resumed all pre-COVID workflows and have written to all the Hauraki groups individually to outline our proposal for how a tikanga process could be advanced in a manner that affirms the mana of all parties.  Briefly the proposal includes bringing our tikanga tohunga (experts) together to co-design the process before we engage each other on the disputed redress.