Tribunal releases priority report on Kōpūtara reserve claim
The Waitangi Tribunal today released The Kōpūtara Priority Report in pre-publication format. The report concerns a claim about the Crown’s failure to grant title or access to the Kōpūtara reserve. This reserve is located at Lake Kōpūtara near Foxton and Hīmatangi Beach. It was set aside from the 240,000-acre Rangitikei–Manawatu purchase in 1870 but the claimants did not receive a title until 1964 or physical access until 2016. The Crown conceded that it breached the Treaty when it failed to grant title in a timely manner, and the Tribunal also found other breaches of Treaty principles.
The Wai 1932 claim was led by Kōpūtara trustees Annabel Mikaere and Patrick Seymour. It was brought on behalf of the hapū Ngāti Parewahawaha, Ngāti Pareraukawa, Ngāti Kikopiri, Ngāti Tūranga, and Ngāti Tukorehe. The Kōpūtara trustees claimed that they were denied legal title and/or access to their own land and treasured resources for almost 150 years, during which time the environment of the reserve and lake was severely degraded.
The Crown accepted that it failed to provide the Kōpūtara reserve with access when it granted all the land surrounding the reserve to private owners. The Crown also acknowledged that this impacted the claimants’ economic, social, and cultural well-being and their ability to exercise ownership and kaitiakitanga. Depriving the claimants of access also disrupted their cultural relationship with the lake and reserve.
The Tribunal found that the Crown’s failure to provide access when it alone had the power to do so was a breach of the principles of the Treaty. The prejudicial result was that the claimants had no legal access until 1998 and no physical access until 2016. The Crown covered the trustees’ legal fees in the 1980s in a long-running litigation to obtain access. The Crown accepted at that time that it should compensate the claimants and fund the construction of a right of way, but it failed to do either. The Tribunal found that this further breached Treaty principles.
The Crown also accepted that it negatively affected the environment of the reserve and Lake Kōpūtara while the claimants were locked out. The Himatangi Drainage Scheme was established and funded by the Crown. It over-drained the lake and contributed to serious sand drift. The Crown also accepted that the Army’s use of the reserve as a live shell range in the 1940s and 1950s worsened the sand drift.
The Tribunal found that the Army’s damage to the reserve, the deficient legislative framework, and the excessive drainage before and by the Himatangi Drainage Scheme were key factors in the degradation of the reserve and lake. The Kōpūtara owners were further disadvantaged because they had no title when the Himatangi scheme was established and could not take action to stop sand drift even once they obtained a title due to their lack of access. The Tribunal found that the Crown failed to protect the reserve’s environment and contributed actively and significantly to the environmental degradation of the reserve and lake, in breach of Treaty principles.
The Tribunal found that the claimants suffered significant prejudice from these Treaty breaches. They lost access to the mahinga kai of the reserve and of Lake Kōpūtara, lost their ability to act as kaitiaki, and lost the ability to transmit customary knowledge to later generations. The claimants were also significantly prejudiced by the high degree of damage to the reserve and to their taonga, Lake Kōpūtara.
Overall, the Tribunal concluded that the Kōpūtara claim was well-founded. To remove or mitigate the harm caused by the Crown’s breaches, the Tribunal made several recommendations that can be found in chapter 5 of the report.
The Kōpūtara Priority Report is now available to download in PDF format:
The Kōpūtara Priority Report [PDF, 9.8MB](external link)
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