KEY POINTS:
The heat over Ngati Whatua's Treaty of Waitangi settlement has forced the Government to back off announcing all of Auckland's 50 volcanic cones as potential World Heritage sites.
Prime Minister Helen Clark was supposed to have launched the list of the country's "tentative" World Heritage sites today at Mt Eden ahead of the annual meeting of Unesco's World Heritage Committee in Christchurch this month.
However, the Department of Conservation, which is in charge of World Heritage, postponed the event on Thursday, saying the Prime Minister was unable to attend.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the PM said the event was postponed because "advice was received that it wasn't appropriate to proceed".
Asked if that advice was that the Ngati Whatua settlement was too contentious, the official said to ask DoC.
The Herald understands it was an annoyed Ngati Whatua that did the advising as three cones - Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), Puketapapa (Mt Roskill) and Maungawhau (Mt Eden) - are included in the tribe's proposed $10 million settlement.
It's a settlement that has been characterised by unease from Ngati Whatua's neighbouring iwi such as Te Kawerau a Maki, about the process, beset by allegations the Office of Treaty Settlements withheld information from other tribes and is now subject to cross-claims.
Auckland's DoC conservancy is understood to have organised the announcement but to do so given the heated nature of the settlement pro-cess errs heavily on the side of political naivete.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter said the Auckland conservancy thought the settlement process was going well, which is why they organised the event.
He said DoC could have communicated better with Ngati Whatua.
"We don't want to cut across Ngati Whatua's sensitivities in the final period before their settlement is finalised especially with the counter-claims that have now been put on."
However, the Government was still committed to the volcanic field gaining World Heritage status, he said.
Ngati Whatua spokesman Ngarimu Blair did not return phone calls.
The tentative list - which just signposts which sites could gain World Heritage status if the community agrees - is not likely to be released until the Christchurch meeting which starts on June 23.
The World Heritage list includes 830 sites forming part of the cultural and natural heritage.
The cones would join Westland and Mt Cook National Parks, the Fiordland National Park, Tongariro National Park and the sub-Antarctic islands in New Zealand.
Around the world, landmarks including the Great Barrier Reef, Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, Westminster Abbey and Grand Canyon National Park are listed.
