Former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has called Shane Jones’ proposal to force New Zealand’s largest iwi Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement “a terrible idea”.
Jones confirmed yesterday that he was drafting a Members’ Bill that would stop the Northland tribe from receiving multiple commercial redress packages with smaller groups.
That’s despite Ngāpuhi being made up of more than 100 individual hapū or subtribes.
Ngāti Hine, a group affiliated to Ngāpuhi, has long challenged the idea of a single commercial settlement and would like to negotiate its own separate deal.
Finlayson told 1News Ngāti Hine should be allowed to given how “organised” and “advanced” it was to enter negotiations.
He said the Crown could adopt a similar settlement model to that Ngāti Kahungunu, the country’s third largest iwi, which successfully negotiated multiple commercial deals.
That iwi’s tribal territory stretches along the eastern coast of the North Island and was divided into seven “natural groupings” according to geography and whakapapa.
Each received their own commercial redress package.
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However, Finlayson said he did not agree with some suggestions that Ngāpuhi would receive the biggest settlement to date.
He said Ngāpuhi did not experience ”raupatu” or “land confiscation” to the same extent of other iwi like Waikato of Ngāi Tahu, who each settled for $170 million,
He warned that if Ngāpuhi was to receive a quantum above that amount, it would dismantle the principle of “relativity” among other settled iwi.