Opportunity lost to mend settlement rift: Morgan

Tukoroirangi Morgan

An iwi leader says his report on bridging a rift between two Ngapuhi factions was largely ignored and never taken out to the wider tribe.

Tukoroirangi Morgan was one of two high-powered witnesses called before the Waitangi Tribunal yesterday as part of a week-long urgent hearing into how Ngapuhi's Treaty grievances should be settled. Fifteen hapu have lodged a claim opposing the Government's decision to pursue direct negotiations with the mandating authority Tuhoronuku on behalf of all Ngapuhi.

Mr Morgan, a Tainui leader and former MP, was called in by the Government in 2012 in an attempt to find common ground between the implacably opposed Te Runanga-a-iwi o Ngapuhi and Te Kotahitanga o nga Hapu Ngapuhi. The runanga wants a fast-tracked settlement negotiated directly with the Crown; Te Kotahitanga wants the full Waitangi Tribunal process.

Mr Morgan said when he first met the two factions they were like boxers facing off across the ring. However, he found a "genuine, earnest desire" to make progress and produced a report for the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS) setting out a new way of reaching settlement based on Ngapuhi's five natural hapu groupings. However, he said the report was never consulted on or circulated among Ngapuhi.

"If the report had at least been discussed, it could have provided impetus for a fresh start. It was a major opportunity lost."

Mr Morgan believed the best option for Ngapuhi was not a single settlement but five separate settlements based on hapu groupings. Ngati Kahungunu, the country's third largest iwi, had successfully settled that way.

Leadership within both iwi and Government was the single most important factor in resolving the impasse, he said.

Also called as a witness was former Prime Minister Jim Bolger, who led a 2011 mediation attempt. He agreed that strong leadership, and the courage to make compromises, was needed.

Mr Bolger said settlement would be reached only through a change in the hearts of the main players, not through lawyers and "arguing endless, minute points".

Ngapuhi owed it to the younger generation to reap the benefits of settlement, as Tainui and Ngai Tahu had done, without further delay.

"We cannot ignore the needs of the young people of the North. How can we adults here not be moved by that, and not want to do something? I hear people say, it [the full Waitangi Tribunal process] is just another few years - but that's another generation of young Ngapuhi who end up in Australia."

Today's witnesses include Maureen Hickey of OTS, former MPs Shane Jones and Tau Henare, and runanga chairman Sonny Tau.