Rapua ngā tuhinga ruku tātari

‘Ka ngahae ngā pī, ko Waikanae.’

‘Staring in amazement, hence Waikanae.’

—Haunui-a-Nanaia

The Waitangi Tribunal’s Waikanae: Report on Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa Claims was released on 15 December 2022 in pre-publication format. The report concerns 17 claims made by whānau, hapū, and iwi organisations of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa ki Kāpiti – an iwi based on the west coast of the lower North Island with strong ties to Taranaki.

These claims focused on land, cultural sites, and resources of the iwi’s traditional rohe, which covers modern-day Waikanae and Paraparaumu, with interests as far south as Paekākāriki. The claims were heard as part of the Porirua ki Manawatū district inquiry (Wai 2200), over the course of five hearings in 2018 and 2019. The panel that heard these claims was led by Presiding Officer Deputy Chief Judge Caren Fox and included Tribunal members Tania Simpson, Sir Douglas Kidd, Dr Monty Soutar, and Dr Grant Phillipson.

In this report, the Tribunal found that the Crown’s treatment of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, resulting in significant prejudice that is still felt today. Despite the promises of protection and partnership made by Governor George Grey to Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa in the 1840s, today the iwi is virtually landless. The Crown conceded that this landlessness was the cumulative effect of its acts and omissions and that this had a ‘devasting impact’ on the iwi.

The Tribunal accepted these concessions and identified several other important Treaty breaches:

• It found that the Crown breached the Treaty in its 1858 and 1859 purchases of the Wainui and Whareroa blocks by failing to inquire who owned the land before purchasing, by imposing the purchases on non-sellers without consent, and by making inadequate reserves for their present and future needs. The Tribunal also held that the Crown breached the Treaty when it threatened Waikanae tribal leaders with land confiscation if they continued to support the Māori King movement in the 1860s.
• The Tribunal also found that the Crown’s native land laws breached Treaty principles between 1870 and 1900. These laws converted tribal customary rights into a finite list of individuals. Those individuals had the power to partition or to sell but no power at the time to establish a body to manage their lands collectively. The Crown failed to give a proper remedy when Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa petitioned Parliament about their grievances in the 1890s. Also, the Crown did not give Māori landowners the same access to cheap development loans as non-Māori. As a result of all these breaches, there was rapid loss of land between 1891 and 1930. Most Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa owners were virtually landless before 1930. Māori land ownership at Waikanae and Paraparaumu was further reduced in the 1960s by the Crown’s failure to prevent compulsory sales of Māori land for the non-payment of rates, even where the land did not produce revenue. This was a breach of the Treaty.
• The Crown was also found in breach of the Treaty for its compulsory public works takings of land for the Paraparaumu Aerodrome (now the Kāpiti Coast Airport) in the 1930s and 1940s. The Crown then failed to protect the interests of the original owners when privatising the airport in 1995. The Crown also failed to properly consider offering surplus land back to the original owners before selling the airport to a private company. The Crown conceded that it failed to protect the original owners’ rights when the airport company sold land in 1999, in breach of the Treaty.
• Regarding the Waikanae River, the Tribunal found that Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa never intended to relinquish their rights to this important taonga, but the river bed was alienated from the iwi as a result of individual titles and surveying practices. This was a breach of the Treaty. The iwi’s control of the river was further undermined by actions of local government, enabled under legislation.
• The Crown also breached Treaty principles through the Town and Country Planning Act 1953, which allowed the Waikanae town centre to be sited on top of Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa homes without adequate consultation or consideration of Māori interests. On balance, the Tribunal also found that the Crown acquired the land for the Hemi Matenga Memorial Park, which is on the hillside above Waikanae township, in breach of the Treaty, and that today the claimants are unable to exercise tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga over this taonga as the Treaty partnership requires.

To address the harm caused by the Crown’s Treaty breaches, the Tribunal recommended that the Crown urgently negotiate a Treaty settlement with Te Ātiawa/Ngāti Awa. Within these negotiations, the Crown should consider restoring legal ownership of Hemi Matenga Memorial Park and creating a co-governance arrangement for its management. The Tribunal also recommended that the Crown amend the offer-back procedures of the Public Works Act 1981, which prejudiced the former owners of Kāpiti Coast Airport lands.