Quiet run-up to deadline

Ngati Manawa representatives (from left) Hirinui Stafford, Ema Kalman and Maurice Toetoe sign the CNI deed. Photo / Mark Mitchell

As the September deadline for lodging Treaty claims approaches, Maori Land Court Chief Judge Joe Williams is worried many Maori are going to miss out altogether on settling grievances.

But at the pace settlements were steaming along at now - with six Crown agreements in principle in the past year and 23 negotiations in process - all historical claims could be settled well before the Government's 2020 deadline, he said.

Maori have until September 1 to lodge all claims with the Waitangi Tribunal, which Judge Williams also chairs. He said with just over two months to go he was "anxious" about the lack of incoming activity.

"In the past, whenever we go into a region to begin an inquiry it lifts the number of claims as people get focused on the tribunal coming into an area.

"That bounce happens every time, and something that is troubling me is that we're not getting that bounce before September 1."

He said his concerns were not about generating more work for the tribunal.

While the big players - runanga and trust boards - had lodged their claims long ago, what inquiries did was bring to light smaller-scale issues.

Marae and whanau claims such as public work takings, land loss because of road construction, and urupa (burial places) disappearing weren't coming to light.

"I'm worried about the little people on the ground who don't know - the non-institutional level.

"One of the dangers in this process is that those little ones get washed out in the bigger raupatu [confiscation], Native Land Court korero."

To raise the deadline profile the tribunal would hold a number of judicial conferences where inquiries hadn't been held, and possibly in the main centres, so potential claimants could find out how to lay claims if they wished. Te Puni Kokiri is also running an awareness campaign.

But although those worries remained, the past six months had seen a dramatic transformation in how the Government and iwi dealt with tough issues, he said.

That included increased speed and engagement on the Crown's part, and political will on the Maori side to build coalitions across multiple iwi to drive through settlements.

That is high praise coming from the head of the tribunal, which last year put out two damning reports on the government process.

"Everyone understands that if we kept going the way we were progress would become more and more distant. What the reports did was they encouraged, well, really, they told the Crown to move outside the box they were stuck in - and to their great credit they did."

The $500 million Central North Island deal signed this week typified that change, and would be seen as a "watershed moment" in Maori development, he said.

"There is now a mood and momentum that I haven't felt before in my entire career as a lawyer or a judge.

"So that means there's room for quite a great deal of optimism for how long closure on historical claims is going to take.

"I can't give you a particular date but at this pace inside 2020 and probably inside 2015."