KEY POINTS:
Settling a $10 million Auckland land claim could be further delayed after the Crown left several important questions unanswered, the Waitangi Tribunal says.
Judge Carrie Wainwright, the tribunal's deputy chairwoman on the Tamaki Makaurau settlement, said it could not continue until it received a number of documents from the Office of Treaty Settlements.
The latest hitch in the ongoing saga arose as the tribunal began examining a mid-March challenge from six Maori groups over an apparently unfair settlement with the Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
The iwi and hapu questioned an agreement which would see Ngati Whatua o Orakei get $10 million from the Crown and stewardship rights to several Auckland city public reserves.
The claimant groups -- Ngati Te Ata, Ngai Tai ki Tamaki, Te Kawerau a Maki, the Marutuahu Confederation, the Hauraki Maori Trust Board and Te Taou -- claim Ngati Whatua o Orakei is not entitled to the settlement and that their groups would be adversely affected.
During the four-day March hearing, Judge Wainwright questioned the Crown's motives for treating one group differently to the others, saying the process left the other groups feeling "disregarded".
In today's memo, she said she could not understand how the documents had been overlooked until after the hearing and why no mention was made of Ngati Whatua o Orakei not wanting to engage with other tangata whenua groups.
Judge Wainwright also asked why certain reports were not included in the evidence and why one man's efforts to sort out issues relating to engaging with the claimants were not mentioned.
The Judge said the documents were to be filed by Friday, when the tribunal would decide what to do next.
- NZPA
