Wednesday, 19 July 2017
For immediate release
  
Northern iwi Ngātiwai has had enough of the Crown supported incursions by the same collective of iwi from Hauraki that is attempting to push into Tauranga.
                
The iwi has decided it will be pushed no further and will stand and fight the Crown and the Hauraki attempts to colonise areas where the Hauraki iwi have no place.
 
Ngātiwai Trust Board Chairman Haydn Edmonds’ opinion is that an errant Government is being persuaded by the Chairman of the collection of Hauraki tribes, to trample on enduring customary rights and plunder other iwi.
 
“The Crown is attempting to diminish us at the bequest of this Hauraki Collective.  We won’t stand for it.”
 
Mr Edmonds said the Crown has effectively handed over sites of immense cultural significance on Aotea (Great Barrier Island) that carry tūpuna names like maunga Manaia, the eponymous ancestor of Ngātiwai, to iwi from Hauraki.
 
“It is my opinion this effectively a Crown assisted theft of Aotea and an act of aggression by the Crown towards Ngātiwai.”   
 
“Also in areas at our southern boundary the Minister has decided to allow Hauraki-based iwi to have land and a voice on various central and local government organisations that makes no sense in terms of their history and location.  I believe Paul Majurey has pushed the Crown and found no resistance so he is taking whatever he can get before people wake up.”
 
He said the Crown is interfering in matters it has no real understanding of.  It is reengineering tribal authority by dishing out land and other redress in places where there is no basis for that redress.  It’s like a lolly scramble designed to please those it is currently in negotiations with.
 
“It is almost as if the Crown is creating a raupatu of its own.  Minister Finlayson is taking a customary position held by Ngātiwai for generations and giving it to others.  That is confiscation.”
 
“The whakapapa tells us what should be happening.  The presence of Majurey’s group Marutūahu in our rohe was extinguished a long time ago and well before 1840 when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.  Those of our people who may have whakapapa in that direction but identify as Ngātiwai within our rohe are expressing their own concerns on social media.  There is no reason to bring in others to try and colonise our areas.”
 
He said he is joining with the Tauranga iwi and others to fight this land grab.
 
ENDS
 
Contacts:      Haydn Edmonds, Chairman Ngātiwai Trust Board
                        Phone:  09 430 0939
                        E-mail: haydn@Ngātiwai.iwi.nz
                       
                        Barry Caldwell, Communications Advisor Ngātiwai Trust Board
                        Phone:  021 728 291
                        Email: barry.caldwell@Ngātiwai.iwi.nz

Overlapping Claims
Like many other iwi across New Zealand, Ngātiwai currently find ourselves involved in a Crown process of dealing with overlapping claims from other iwi who lay claim to “rights and interests” in our rohe.

The Ngātiwai Trust Board for a long period of time has attempted to engage with iwi that have overlapping claims within our rohe, often these attempts have been unsuccessful with little to no kōrero being had to date. 

The Board is now asking those iwi for urgent direct engagement to understand how they have claimed these rights and interests, specifically those of the Hauraki and Marutūahu iwi, in an attempt to resolve these matters.

The situation the Board finds itself in is very similar to that of the iwi of Tauranga Moana, where the same iwi are laying claims of redress in their rohe.  The Ngātiwai Trust Board fully supports the iwi of Tauranga Moana in their opposition to the Crown’s offer of redress to Hauraki in to ensure their Mana Moana and Mana Whenua is upheld.

The Ngātiwai Trust Board absolutely supports a Treaty Settlement for the Hauraki iwi, however we do not support the way the Crown has offered redress like property on Aotea, rights to Tonga Tūturu in our rohe and rights of first refusal over new quota species entering the Quota Management System in our rohe. 

Rather than following these Crown directed processes, it is hoped we can engage with these iwi face to face and to find a tikanga based resolution to these issues.  

​Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 - Update
 
High Court Applications
On 3 April 2017 the Board lodged “Blanket” applications under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (the “MACA”) with both the Crown and the High Court.

The Board has responded to all overlapping applicants within the required High Court timeframe to register its interests in those applications. It has also supported all Ngātiwai applications.
There were 184 applications received and processed by the High Court as of 11 April 2017. However the Court has noted that there are a large number of applications that have been received and are yet to be processed.

The High Court has directed the Crown to provide a tentative list of groupings for case management conferencing and possibly also for hearings purposes. Currently the Board’s application is grouped in category C along with ten other applicants.

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 and the overlapping claims process will be talked about in more detail at our upcoming Hui-a-iwi on 29 July 2017 at Paratene Te Manu Marae, Ngunguru.  Whānau are encouraged to attend this hui to become more involved and to have a greater understanding of these processes.