Crown signs historic Treaty settlement

Ngai Te Rangi chairman Charlie Tawhiao. Photo / APN

The Crown has signed multi-million dollar settlement for all outstanding historical Treaty claims with Bay of Plenty iwi at Whareroa Marae near Tauranga, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Christopher Finlayson said today.

Ngai Te Rangi and Nga Potiki's claims were based on both raupatu (confiscation) and post-raupatu actions and omissions of the Crown.

The Crown's actions and omissions meant that today the iwi were virtually landless, retaining only about two percent of their rohe (territory), and their cultural landscapes and seascapes had been compromised and diminished, Mr Finlayson said.

"We can never fully compensate for these wrongs however this settlement will enable the people of Ngai Te Rangi and Nga Potiki to look forward to a stronger future.''
The settlement included financial and commercial redress of $26.5 million for Ngai Te Rangi and $3 million for Nga Potiki.

Cultural redress provided recognition of the traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations of Ngai Te Rangi and Nga Potiki with several key sites.

"Signing this deed of settlement with Ngai Te Rangi and Nga Potiki is an important step towards settling all historical grievances in the Bay of Plenty and New Zealand as a whole,'' Mr Finlayson said.

The settlement would be given effect through legislation.

This was the final individual deed of settlement for a member of the Tauranga Moana Iwi Collective, which was negotiating a collective deed of settlement for redress over the shared interests of iwi in the Tauranga area.

It is the eighth deed of settlement signed by the Crown in 2013, and the 41st since November 2008.