4 Dec 2013

Crown 'hell-bent' on completing Treaty deals

8:24 pm on 4 December 2013

The people of Ngati Kauwhata of Manawatu travelled to Parliament on Wednesday to accuse the Crown of being 'hell-bent' on completing Treaty settlements.

Descendants told MPs they risk losing ancestral land to other tribes. They say tribes who are in fast-track negotiations with the Crown stand to benefit ahead of those who take the long route through the Waitangi Tribunal.

The iwi wants to gain the right to the now closed Maungatautari School near Cambridge.

A Ngati Kauwhata claimant, Steve Bray, told politicians that other tribes have overlapping claims - a situation cause by the Crown's Treaty process.

Mr Bray says they don't have a problem with Ngati Koroki Kahukura, which has overlapping claims. However they're not happy with the Crown's policies, which he says give precedence to claimants who conduct direct negotiations with the Office of Treaty Settlements.

Ngati Kauwhata people originally settled in Waikato, but wars and land confiscation forced them to migrate south in the mid-19th century.

MPs says they will issue a report on the complaints raised by Ngati Kauwhata.