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The Ngāti Maniapoto/Ngāti Tama Cross-Claims Settlement Report (2001) is a report on two Ngāti Maniapoto claims (Wai 788 and Wai 800) about the proposed settlement of Ngāti Tama’s historical Treaty claims relating to Taranaki. An urgent hearing to consider these claims was held in Wellington from 26 to 28 February 2001 by a Tribunal consisting of Judge Carrie Wainwright (presiding), the Honourable Dr Michael Bassett, and Professor Wharehuia Milroy.

Wai 788 was lodged in July 1999 by Atiria Takiari and others, while Wai 800 was submitted by Harold Maniapoto and Roy Haar in November 1999. The two sets of claimants worked together, Wai 788 representing Ngāti Maniapoto hapu of the Mokau region and Wai 800 representing wider Ngāti Maniapoto interests. These claims were prompted by settlement negotiations between Ngāti Tama and the Crown, which in turn were a response to the Tribunal’s Taranaki Report. As a result of these negotiations, a heads of agreement for a proposed settlement of Ngāti Tama’s claims was signed in September 1999. This agreement proposed, among other things, to transfer various properties to Ngāti Tama and to provide other forms of recognition of Ngāti Tama’s interests in the north Taranaki–Mokau area.

The Ngāti Maniapoto claimants stated that they had interests in part of the area covered by the Ngāti Tama settlement, and that they would be prejudiced by the provision of redress to Ngāti Tama within that area before Ngāti Maniapoto’s claims had been heard by the Tribunal, or before Ngāti Maniapoto had entered into settlement negotiations with the Crown for its Treaty claims.

In evidence to the Tribunal, the Crown submitted details of revisions to the Ngāti Tama settlement which had been agreed to by Ngāti Tama and the Crown. The Tribunal considered that, by revising the settlement and by giving a number of undertakings intended to allay Ngāti Maniapoto’s concerns about the possible effects of this settlement on their interests, the Crown had conscientiously endeavoured to meet its obligations as a Treaty partner to both Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Maniapoto. The Tribunal noted:

There are serious precedent implications arising from the Wai 788 and Wai 800 claims. If the Tribunal were to take the view that the Crown ought not to deliver redress to any claimant where there are overlapping or cross-claims, the repercussions for the Crown’s settlement policy would be very serious. It would thwart the desire on the part of both the Crown and Māori claimants to achieve closure in respect of their historical Treaty grievances. Indefinite delay to the conclusion of Treaty settlements all around the country is an outcome that this Tribunal seeks to avoid.

The Tribunal made clear that Crown has a responsibility to ensure that negative inferences about Ngāti Maniapoto’s interests are not drawn from the Crown’s recognition of Ngāti Tama’s interests in the settlement. In the Tribunal’s view, the Crown had taken, or had promised to take, appropriate steps to meet this responsibility. The Tribunal was also convinced that, if the revised settlement with Ngāti Tama were to go ahead, the Crown would retain the capacity to provide adequate and appropriate redress to Ngāti Maniapoto when its settlement came to be negotiated.

For these reasons, the Tribunal found that the Crown would not breach Treaty principles by going ahead with the Ngāti Tama settlement on the basis of the revised settlement package. It also made a recommendation in relation to one particular site, Te Kawau Pā, which is on the coast south of Mokau. This site was originally to have been vested in Ngāti Tama as part of its settlement, but the Crown subsequently recognised that, because both Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Maniapoto had strong interests in the site, it would be inappropriate to vest title exclusively in either group. The Tribunal recommended that the status of Te Kawau Pā should remain unchanged for the time being, but that the Crown should take an active role in trying to find a way of recognising the interests of both parties:

We further recommend that the Crown facilitate hui involving Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Tama to discuss the future management and ownership of Te Kawau Pā. If no agreement about the future ownership and management of this site results from such hui, we recommend that the matter be reconsidered when Ngāti Maniapoto negotiate their settlement with the Crown, at which time another attempt should be made to find a way of recognising the interests of both Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Maniapoto in the site, and of including both groups in its ownership and management.