The first of 10 hui is being held this weekend for descendants of Tauranga-based iwi Ngati Ranginui to encourage them to register to vote on the tribe's Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
Hui will be held in Australia as well as in New Zealand, with the first one in Tauranga's Tutereinga Marae on Saturday.
The chair of Te Roopu Whakamana o Nga Hapu o Ngati Ranginui, Antoine Coffin, says the settlement, which is worth about $33 million, is very important to the iwi and the more support it gets the better.
He says he's confident iwi members will vote in support of the settlement and give the settlement trust a vote of confidence.
Mr Coffin says benefits will flow from the settlement and only those on the register will be able to enjoy that.
Iwi members have until 25 May to register. So far 2000 have registered out of a potential 10,000 Ngati Ranginui descendants.
