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Three Maori groups have failed in a bid to block the multimillion-dollar Te Arawa Treaty of Waitangi settlement reached with the Government, including over 50,000 hectares of forestry land.
The confidentially valued settlement, estimated at $200 million, was reached last year with Rotorua's Te Arawa to receive more than 50,000ha of Kaingaroa Forest, along with $36 million in cash.
In a High Court hearing in Wellington last month, three Maori groups representing competing interests in the land asked for the transfer to be blocked, but Justice Warwick Gendall has now ruled the court cannot do what the groups want.
The New Zealand Maori Council, the Federation of Maori Authorities, and Ngati Tuwharetoa had sued the Attorney-General on behalf of the Crown, the trustees of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, and Te Pumau-tanga o Te Arawa Trust.
In a just-released written decision, Justice Gendall said the courts could not intervene in the parliamentary process of intended legislation.
"Te Arawa cannot be deprived of the benefits of their settlement with the Crown by any declaration of this court," he said.
"Whatever eventuates, the settlements with Te Arawa must proceed."
Justice Gendall did not rule on costs, saying whether the three suing groups had failed was a matter of discussion. "Although the plaintiffs have not obtained any declaration, sought or otherwise, so may be seen to have 'failed', that may not be an entirely apt expression in the context of these proceedings.
"Accordingly, costs are reserved for further argument."
The Maori Council and the Federation of Maori Authorities had argued the Crown's actions in transferring the land to Te Arawa had denied other Waitangi Tribunal claimants the chance to benefit from future profits from rental of the crown forestry land.
They also argued the Crown had illegally made itself a beneficiary of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust and stood to wrongly receive $61 million in rental profits.
- NZPA
