Tuhoe hope agreement will pave way for Te Urewera deal

Tamati Kruger. Photo / APN

Tuhoe hope a new Treaty settlement involving Te Urewera National Park can be worked out with the Crown by the end of next year as it prepares to sign a milestone agreement this weekend.

More than a year after the Crown-Tuhoe settlement negotiations imploded, both parties are committing to a "relationship agreement" on Saturday at Ruatahuna.

In May last year, Prime Minister John Key pulled the plug on a deal, which was languishing before the Cabinet, because of its provision to hand back the 212,672ha Te Urewera National Park to iwi.

Return to iwi ownership was a Tuhoe bottom line.

It is an important, albeit provisional, step on the path back to settlement because the relationship was in rocky shape immediately after Mr Key's announcement that the deal wouldn't go ahead.

Bad jokes were made by Mr Key - he said he would have been Tuhoe dinner if he'd been dining with them - and Tuhoe accused him of losing his nerve in the face of political pressure.

Yesterday, the tribe's chief negotiator, Tamati Kruger, said the tribe's bottom line hadn't changed. Its negotiating body hoped that by the end of next year the two groups would be writing the settlement bill.

"We want settlement as soon as possible. We think we have articulated to the Crown what we think."

But Mr Kruger conceded there would be a job to do in convincing any government to return Te Urewera.

"If indeed the perception is that the public somehow loses something and Tuhoe unfairly gains something, well, that needs to be confronted ... if that is the problem then let's face up to that."

Mr Kruger said outside of the settlement negotiations the agreement set a path for the two groups to deal with each other honestly.

"It says 'hey look, when you two clowns sit down in a room to talk wouldn't it be great to be honest and to be truthful and to be plain-speaking.'

"Of course there's no guarantee both or either party will do that, but at least it's put down as an expectation."

The agreement, to be signed at Ruatahuna's Mataatua Marae, will reflect broad acknowledgement of the tribe's grievances with the Crown, acknowledgement of the mana of both parties and a commitment to develop redress for a comprehensive settlement.

A statement from Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson said the agreement would enable a fresh start and allow the parties to begin to move on from 140 years of difficult relationships.

Once the agreement is signed, work will concentrate on improving social services to the community.

A taskforce made up of senior representatives of state sector agencies has begun work with Tuhoe to develop a plan for better delivery of services to meet community needs.