Tuku Morgan to continue as Tainui negotiator

1.00pm

Former Tainui board member Tuku Morgan is likely to hold on to his position as one of the tribe's river and coastal claim negotiators after receiving widespread support from its parliament at the weekend.

Mr Morgan resigned from the executive last week, becoming the most recent casualty of a controversial eligibility ruling which prevents anyone convicted of an imprisonable offence from holding tribal office.

Mr Morgan has a 1982 conviction under the Summary Offences Act for obstructing police during a land march.

Neither the crime clause nor Mr Morgan's resignation is likely to affect his continuing as co-negotiator, a position that can be held by any tribal member.

Tainui board chairman Kingi Porima said Mr Morgan would stay in the job unless he was removed by the tribe's parliament -- Te Kauhanganui.

It is understood that at a meeting of Te Kauhanganui on Saturday Mr Morgan's position as a negotiator was widely supported.

There was also intense debate at the meeting about whether or not the eligibility rule would be applied outside the executive, potentially purging the tribe's parliament of up to a third of its membership.

Te Kauhanganui members agreed to refer the ruling back to the tribe's constitutional reform committee.

Committee members are expected to present a third amendment to the wording of the crime clause to the tribe's parliament at its annual meeting on November 27.

Previous versions of the amendment have twice failed to get the 75 per cent support needed to pass any constitutional change.

A decision on board member Haydn Solomon was postponed to give him further time to respond to aspects of the report on the Springhill prison consultation contracts.

- NZPA