Government looks at Waitangi time limit

By RUTH BERRY

The Government is considering imposing a deadline on the filing of historical claims with the Waitangi Tribunal, an Opposition policy it has previously rejected.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Margaret Wilson yesterday confirmed that the issue was under discussion, after a senior bureaucrat suggested it might be time to consider a time limit.

The prospect was raised by Office of Treaty Settlement director Andrew Hampton during a grilling by some Maori affairs select committee MPs over the time settlements were taking.

The Government has no time limit on the filing of historical claims or a date by which they must be settled, although it expects all major claims to be finalised in 10 to 15 years.

About three claims are settled each year.

Under National policy, all historical claims would have to be filed by 2006 and all claims settled by 2010.

Social Services Minister Steve Maharey courted controversy this year when, after National leader Don Brash's Orewa speech, he pondered a time limit on the settlement of claims.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and Ms Wilson both ruled out a policy change, although Helen Clark said: "I neither support nor don't support" the idea.

Yesterday, National MP Georgina te Heuheu raised Dr Brash's concerns about the treaty process and asked Mr Hampton if he had given any thought to putting a final date on settlements.

He said he was aware of the political debate and believed it involved two issues.

"There's the timeline for ... having claims lodged with the tribunal, and you know there's a thousand claims in there. Maybe it is approaching the time to start thinking about that.

"Then there's something less-fixed, more of a target timeline for trying to get claims settled, and our minister has been upfront, saying 10 to 15 years is her target."

Ms Wilson confirmed later in a statement that "the idea has been floated for a cutoff for lodging historical claims, but not contemporary ones".

Other matters under review included post-settlement Government entities and streamlining legislation.

The Herald understands that the Government is under pressure from its own embattled Maori MPs to improve the pace of settlements.

The Maori caucus is understood to have pushed for a treaty settlement review with Helen Clark a month ago, complaining that the Crown was impeding progress.

Claims backlog

* 1148 claims filed with Waitangi Tribunal.

* 407 have been dealt with.

* 207 yet to be addressed. The rest are in progress.