Housing Minister Nick Smith has held an urgent meeting with Auckland iwi amid concerns that a dispute over surplus land in Auckland could end up in court.

The Government has signed an agreement to start formal negotiations with Ngapuhi over what is likely to be the nation's biggest Treaty settlement.

Public reporting on large tribal and Maori corporate bodies has increased over the past decade.

Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson says the impasse over Ngapuhi's settlement is largely personality-driven andNZ First leader Winston Peters could help resolving it.

Newly-elected Northland MP Winston Peters has been called on to resolve a dispute that has held up a Treaty settlement for the country's largest iwi.

Lock up your moggies if you live near a sensitive wildlife area, or they could be put down - that's the latest suggestion from Gareth Morgan.

The PM's Office has finally agreed to release transcripts from his post cabinet press conferences, and Audrey Young says it's a small, but important, victory.

I think Andrew Little might have had his first Tony Abbott moment at Waitangi last Friday.

Prime Minister John Key says Andrew Little's comments at Waitangi on Maori sovereignty were advancing "separatism."

Philanthropist Gareth Morgan says he will have spent $600,000 on his Treaty of Waitangi campaign by the end of the year.

Key was talking about the flag and downplaying the Waitangi report on sovereignty, but Little had bigger fish to fry.

The 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi is a time of special reflection for all Kiwis, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae has said in his Waitangi Day address.

A hikoi comprised of several different protest groups has made its way to the upper marae at Waitangi.

Three iwi now have assets valued at $2.7b but in the next few years, 30 to 40 will emerge with that financial firepower, one expert says.

Waitangi is usually about domestic friction, but yesterday war overseas dominated on the marae.

Last year, two notable New Zealand economists warned of dire consequences if our regional economies were allowed to run down from "benign neglect".

Government ministers have upped the pressure on Ngapuhi to get on with their settlement in the lead-up to Waitangi Day - and even the Governor-General got in on the act.

Gareth Morgan enjoys an argument and has the wealth to indulge his views. But his latest adopted cause - biculturalism - isn't needed.

Several generations ago, children who dared to speak te reo Maori at school were cruelly silenced.

Imagine if Ngapuhi had settled in the 1990s, as Ngai Tahu and Waikato Tainui did.

Gareth Morgan says the National Party a decade ago was "harsh and intolerant" - but not many people turn up to hear him speak.

The Governor-General will mark the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by visiting the historic Mangungu Mission in Hokianga today.

Former Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples joked about putting his body on the line to protect the Prime Minister at Waitangi, but successor Te Ururoa Flavell won't be following suit.

Prime Minister John Key says he is expecting a "rough" reception at Waitangi this year as he walks into a hotbed of issues.

Historians and prophets, by the nature of their vocations, tend to look in opposite directions, writes Paul Moon.

Gareth Morgan is heading to Orewa to confront what he calls the "ignorance of Brash-think".