Treaty Minister holds talks with Ngapuhi in bid to break stalemate

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little (second left) meets Ngapuhi representatives Rudy Taylor (left), Pita Tipene, Hone Sadler and Sonny Tau. Photo / supplied

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says there is plenty of work ahead for the Ngapuhi settlement after holding weekend talks with the main figures involved.

The settlement negotiations have been stalled since last year because of disagreements about the mandate to negotiate on behalf of Ngapuhi which was given to the Tuhoronuku grouping, led by Ngapuhi leaders Sonny Tau and Hone Sadler.

Little met in his Beehive office for all of Saturday and Sunday morning with Tau and Sadler as well as Pita Tipene and Rudy Taylor from Te Kotahitanga, which opposes the mandate for Tuhoronuku.

Afterward, Little said he would hold further talks after Easter but the meetings were "constructive".

He would not discuss any specifics of the talks with the four, saying it was an opportunity to explore ideas and now they needed to go and talk to their people about it. He would not say if he believed there had been progress or a breakthrough.

"I'm not going to get ahead of ourselves except to say I think the discussions were held in a good spirit and were constructive. We've all got plenty of work to do and they have got to report back to their people. We have committed to resuming discussions in a month or so."

At Waitangi last month, Little said he was confident Ngapuhi would settle by 2020.

Yesterday he said that remained his ambition. "But we've got plenty of work to do before we get there."

Little had met with the two groups separately at Waitangi and has also held several hui for Ngapuhi in Northland since becoming minister in a bid to get a breakthrough.

Tuhoronuku's mandate is disputed by some iwi and hapu, including Ngati Hine and Hokianga hapu, who set up the rival Te Kotahitanga group.

After a Waitangi Tribunal ruling that the mandate lacked hapu involvement, the two groups worked on the Maranga Mai report to try to resolve the issues – but there are ongoing disagreements over that report still.

The former National Government stepped back from the process in the middle of last year, saying it was up to Ngapuhi to decide who should represent them and the Government remained willing to re-enter negotiations once that was settled.

Former Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson had put much of the differences down to personality conflicts between those involved.