The Kaipara Interim Report
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THE KAIPARA INTERIM REPORT THE KAIPARA INTERIM REPORT WA I 6 74 WAITANGI TRIBUNAL REPORT 2002 The cover design by Cliff Whitinginvokesthesigningofthe Treaty of Waitangi and the consequent interwoven development of MaoriandPakehahistoryinNewZealandasitcontinuously unfolds in a pattern not yet completely known AWaitangiTribunalreport isbn 1-86956-267-4 www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz TypesetbytheWaitangiTribunal Published by Legislation Direct, Wellington, New Zealand Printed by SecuraCopy, Wellington, New Zealand SetinAdobeMinionandCronosmultiplemastertypefaces CONTENTS 1 The reasons for issuing an interim report . 1 2 The history of the Kaipara inquiry . 2 3 The Te Uri o Hau Claims Settlement Bill . 4 4 Claims in the Kaipara inquiry . 5 5 Crown acknowledgements in the Te Uri o Hau Claims Settlement Bill . 8 6 Overlapping claims in northern Kaipara. 9 7 Claims in southern Kaipara . 15 8 Specific issues not included in this report. 21 9 Conclusion . 22 v LIST OF MAPS Map 1: The Kaipara inquiry area . viii Map 2: Tribal relations in northern Kaipara. 11 Map 3:LandalienationinsouthernKaipara,1840–1900 . 16 Map 4:MaorilandinsouthernKaipara,circa2000 . 19 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS doc document ltd limited p, pp page, pages roi record of inquiry ‘Wai’isaprefixusedwithWaitangiTribunalclaimnumbers vi The Honourable Parekura Horomia The Waitangi Tribunal Minister of Maori Affairs 110 Featherston Street and WELLINGTON The Honourable Margaret Wilson Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Parliament Buildings WELLINGTON 12 September 2002 Tena koruaenga Minita E whai ake nei a matau korero, ripoata i raro i te mana o te Ropu Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, i whakaturia mo Kaipara. Ko te tumanako o tenei ripoata a matau, hei whaka- mama inga nawe me nga kereme a nga kaitono, atu i Te Uri o Hau, kei mua i te Karauna. Ko ta matau wawata, hiahia hoki, kia tutaki nga kaitono me te Karauna kia awe ai te whakatau i tenei take nui. The enclosed Kaipara Interim Report is a response by the Tribunal constituted to hear the Kaipara claims, to the negotiation of a settlement of Te Uri o Hau historical claims. The Te Uri o Hau Claims Settlement Bill, currently before Parliament, will, when enacted, settle a number of historical claims which have been heard by this Tribunal. The Bill makes a number of acknowledgements of Treaty breaches in relation to Te Uri o Hau historical claims. Our interim report sets out the Kaipara Tribunal’s view of the ways in which these acknowledgements relate to those claims within our inquiry which are not covered by the Bill. We hope that this report will provide a basis for claimants to enter into negotiations with the Crown for the settlement of their claims, and we strongly recommend that the claimants and the Crown should begin such negotiations. No reira, ka tuku atu matauitenei ripoata, hei ata whakaaro, hei tautoko i nga whiriwhiringa o te Karauna mo te take nei. GCPAWallace (presiding), M E R Bassett, B P N Corban, A Koopu, E M Stokes, J J Turei Whangarei Mangapai Tangowahine Ta r ngihu ge Dargaville e a Ran v i Ruarangi R Pikiwahine a o Mahuta r Waipu i a W Bream Tail Tokatoka Mangawhai Heads Te Arai Kaipara Wellsford H Warkworth arbour Kawau Is. Kaipara Inquiry: Stage One Helensville Stage Two Stage Three Rangitoto Te Uri o Hau Area of Interest in Deed of Settlement Muriwai mata Harbo aite ur Overlap of Stages One and Three W AUCKLAND Waitakere C IT Range Y Manukau Harbour 0 10 20 30 40 50 kilometres Map 1: The Kaipara inquiry area viii THE KAIPARA INTERIM REPORT 1 The Reasons for Issuing an Interim Report ThereasonsfortheKaiparaTribunal’sdecisiontoissuethisinterimreportaresetoutinthe following memorandum, which was originally intended for the relevant Ministers: ThemembersoftheTribunalconstitutedtoheartheKaiparaclaimsmeton1 May and 6 June 2002, and, after lengthy discussion, unanimously reached the following conclusions. Onememberwasabsentfromthemeetings,buthasseparatelysignified his agreement to this memorandum. 1. The Waitangi Tribunal is a permanent commission of inquiry with a statutory re- sponsibility to inquire into MaoriclaimsofbreachesoftheTreatyofWaitangi. 2. IndependentoftheTribunalprocess,theCrownreservestoitselfthepowertonegoti- ate directly with Maori claimants. 3. BeforethisTribunalhasreportedontheKaiparaclaims(includingTeUrioHau claims as definedintheTeUrioHauClaimsSettlementBill),theCrownhaschosen tonegotiateseparatelywithTeUrioHau,inisolationfromallotherKaiparaclaims. 4. TheTeUrioHauClaimsSettlementAct,whenpassed,willexcludetheTribunal from jurisdiction in relation to those Te Uri o Hau claims. 5. InthisTribunal’sview,genericgrievances,inrelationtowhichtheCrownhasadmit- tedculpabilityintheTeUrioHauSettlement,arecommontoclaimsthroughoutthe whole Kaipara inquiry region. 6. Thesegenericgrievancescouldbethebasisfornegotiationsandsettlementsof claimsthroughouttheregion.WhiletheTribunalexercisesaseparatejurisdiction,it believesthatitcouldbeintheinterestsofotherKaiparaclaimantsfortheCrownto enter into direct negotiations with them. In making this statement, this Tribunal is mindfulofthedictatesofnaturaljusticeandtheneedforthattobeperceivedbyall. 7. WeretheKaiparaTribunaltoreportonthosegenericgrievances,itwouldfind itself, ingeneralterms,insympathywiththeacknowledgementsofTreatybreacheswhich theCrownhasmadeintheTeUrioHausettlement. 8. Assoonaspossible,theTribunalintendstopublishabriefreportofitsinterimfind- ings in relation to those generic grievances in respect of all Kaipara claims,excepting onlyTeUrioHauclaims(asdefinedabove).TheTribunalisawarethatthismight assist Kaipara claimants and the Crown,should the parties wish to negotiate directly. 1 The Kaipara Interim Report 2 9. The Tribunal will consider whether to report finally, in its usual manner, on the Kai- paraclaims,oranypartthereof(otherthanTeUrioHauclaims),onapplicationto this Tribunal by the Crown or claimants. Such an application will be notified to all partiestotheKaiparainquiry. 10. TheKaiparaTribunaltakesthissomewhatunusualcourseinthisinquiryduetothe particularcircumstancesthathavearisenfollowingdirectCrownnegotiationsand settlementwithTeUrioHau,inisolationfromtherestoftheKaiparaclaims,andin advanceoftheTribunalreporting.Thissituationofdualorcompetingprocesses occurringintandemhascausedtheTribunaltoconsiderthematteratlength.While not vacating its statutory jurisdiction, the Kaipara Tribunal is proposing this course ofactioninanendeavourtobepracticalandfairtoallparties. BeforethismemorandumcouldbesenttotheMinisters,theannouncementofageneral election on 27 July 2002 was made, and the memorandum was held over for the incoming Government.TheTribunaldecidedtoproceedwithitsintentionofissuingabriefreportof its interim findingsinrespectofgenericissuesacknowledgedbytheCrownintheTeUrio Hau Claims Settlement Bill. 2 The History of the Kaipara Inquiry In March 1997, Dame Augusta Wallace was appointed presiding officerfortheWaitangiTri- bunal’sinquiryintotheKaiparadistrict,andtheremainingmembersofthisTribunalwere 1 appointedinJune1997. TherecordsofinquiryofvariousclaimsrelatingtotheKaipara 2 region were combined under the reference number Wai 674 in July 1997. Theinquirydis- trict was divided into three areas (stages 1, 2,and3),tobeheardinsequence(seemap1). Hearings for stage 1 claims commenced in August 1997 and continued until June 1998.The main TeUri o Hau claims (Wai 229 and Wai 271)wereheardbytheTribunalinstage1.While this stage of the inquiry was in progress,counsel for Wai 229 and Wai 271 made a series of sub- missionsaskingtheTribunaltoissueaninterimreportatthecompletionofthestage1 hear- ings. The claimants sought an interim report or preliminary indications from the Tribunal, withaviewtoenteringintodirectnegotiationswiththeCrownforthesettlementoftheir 3 claimsassoonaspossible. 1. DirectionappointingDameAugustaWallacepresidingofficer for claims in Kaipara area, 10 March 1997 (Wai 674 roi,paper2.71); direction constituting Tribunal to hear Kaipara claims, 9 June 1997 (Wai 674 roi,paper2.84) 2. Direction concerning consolidation and aggregation of Wai 674 record of inquiry, 21 July 1997 (Wai 674 roi, paper 2.92) 3. Memorandums and submissions of counsel for Wai 229 and Wai 271, 21 July 1997, 23 July 1997, 26 September 1997, 1 October 1997, 1 April 1998, 7 April 1998, 23 April 1998, 18 June 1998 (Wai 674 roi,papers2.86, 2.89, 2.102, 2.104, 2.123, 2.124, 2.129, 2.142) 2 The History of the Kaipara Inquiry 2 We issued our decision on the application for an interim report or preliminary indica- tionsinAugust1998,afterthestage1 hearings had finished. The application was declined. Wepointedoutthattherewereclaimsinstages2 and 3 whichoverlappedwiththoseheardin stage 1 and that later claimants might be disadvantaged by any preliminary indications given inrelationtotheclaimsofTeUrioHau.Inaddition,weexpressedsomehesitationastothe accuracy of any indications which we might have given without having heard from the over- lapping claimants. We took the view that there was a likelihood of disadvantage to claimants whowereyettobeheard.Whileacceptingthatthereleaseofaninterimreportmightbeof benefittotheTeUrioHauclaimantsinanynegotiationsthattheymightenterintowiththe Crown,we were not satisfiedthatweshouldtakethisintoaccountinourdecision.Weconsid- ered that the critical question was whether, in balancing the interests of all Kaipara claim- ants,therewouldbeapotentialinjusticetothestage1 claimantsiftheyhadtowaituntilthe conclusionoftheKaiparahearingsforareportontheirclaims.Weconsideredthatnosuch injusticewouldexist,andwenotedthatitwasopentotheclaimantstoenterintonegotia-