KEY POINTS:
Ngai Tahu has filed a legal challenge against the Waitangi Tribunal's inquiry into tribes in the north of the South Island.
Last week, Ngati Koata, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama and Te Atiawa, who have banded together as a natural grouping under the Tainui Taranaki ki te Tonga organisation to settle their claims, signed their terms of negotiation with the Crown.
As well as the tribunal, three of the four Tainui Taranaki tribes are also understood to be respondents in Ngai Tahu's action.
For Ngai Tahu the offending tribunal report found that Te Tau Ihu iwi - those based at the top of the island - historically possessed customary rights within Ngai Tahu boundaries, boundaries which have been confirmed in settlement legislation.
That was a position that severely irritated Ngai Tahu - and the reason lay in continual litigation, tribal kaiwhakahaere (chairman) Mark Solomon said.
In the past 17 years the tribe has been to the Privy Council, the Maori Appellant Court and the High Court to relitigate Ngai Tahu's boundaries.
"We had an issue as soon as it [the report] came out.
"How many times do Maori have to go to court before it [a settlement] is considered full and final?"
The best-case scenario would see the report recalled, Mr Solomon said.
But Ngai Tahu may not have its day in court as the tribunal, which is not commenting on the issue, is not obliged to respond to an action against it.
Mr Solomon said that if Te Tau Ihu iwi had customary right to resources, then potentially they had a customary right to Ngai Tahu assets.
Tainui Taranaki ki te Tonga chairman Roma Hippolite said Ngati Rarua, Te Atiawa and Ngati Tama had been named as respondents in the litigation. The case was a distraction as the group just wanted to get on with their own settlement, he said.
"Any action that limits our ability to settle those wrongs is actually an affront to our old people.
"They [Ngai Tahu] set the benchmark and good luck to them. Now it's our turn and we wish to have full and final settlement."
Definite lines could not be drawn on the country's maps to say where each iwi belonged because of blurred relationships between iwi, Mr Hippolite said.
"What we would say is that their northern boundaries do not denote our southern boundaries.
"Ngai Tahu were able to put their case before the Waitangi Tribunal and the Crown and effect a settlement. We were not able to do it up until this point, and when we're about to do something, they have chosen to take the Crown to court."
A spokesman for Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen would not say if negotiations would be affected by the action.
"Terms [of negotiation] make no commitments about the redress that will be included in a settlement with Tainui Taranaki."
IWI WRANGLE
* Ngai Tahu is taking the Waitangi Tribunal to court over the Te Tau Ihu Northern South Island Inquiry.
* In that report the tribunal found that the Crown had incorrectly interpreted settlement legislation to mean that Ngai Tahu had exclusive rights in the takiwa or region.
* Te Tau Ihu iwi have also been named as respondents in the court case.
* The tribunal also said the Crown ignored Te Tau Ihu interests during the negotiation and settlement of the Ngai Tahu claim and that assets that could potentially have been included in any future settlement with other iwi were vested in the sole ownership of Ngai Tahu.
* Te Tau Ihu iwi are now in negotiations mode trying to settle their own Treaty claim but their efforts may be hamstrung by Ngai Tahu's court action against the Waitangi Tribunal.
