Rotorua campaigners await judge's lakebed ruling

The Rotorua Lakes Protection Society will have to wait to find out whether it can pursue its legal fight over the Te Arawa lakes deal.

The society has asked the High Court to rule the Government's latest offer to Te Arawa is invalid, because an agreement with the tribe has been in force since 1922.

At a hearing in Rotorua yesterday, lawyers for the Crown argued that the case should be thrown out.

The proposed settlement was a political decision, not a legal one, they said.

However, the society argued the Government had misled the public into believing it was legally bound to make the settlement.

It asked the court to declare that the 1922 Fenton Agreement extinguished any legal right of lakebed ownership Te Arawa had.

The Crown Law Office said the Government did not think it was the court's place to make any declarations. Justice Alan MacKenzie reserved his decision.

- NZPA