J Prebble / R Wanigasekera (Crown) Crown Memorandum clarifying the date, or dates, on which the draft reports were received and subsequently finished, 14 Nov 14 (also recorded as Wai 2393, #3.4.25)
Wai 2391 - the Motiti Island (Hoete, Matehaere, Haimona and Paul) Claim
Letter from Crown to Te Pio Kawe dated 25 November 2014 and commentary on Dr Kahotea's cultural interests assessment, 25 Nov 14 (also recorded as Wai 2393, 3.4.26(a))
Wai 2391 - the Motiti Island (Hoete, Matehaere, Haimona and Paul) Claim
The Final Report on the MV Rena and Motiti island Claims
Wai 2391 - the Motiti Island (Hoete, Matehaere, Haimona and Paul) Claim
The Final Report on the MV Rena and Motiti Island Claims, originally released in pre-publication format in November 2014, is the outcome of two claims: Wai 2293 from the Ngāi Te Hapū Incorporated Society and Wai 2291 from the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust and the Mataatua District Māori Council. Both claims related to alleged Crown conduct in relation to the removal of the MV Rena from Otaiti (Astrolabe Reef) near Motiti Island.
The Tribunal held an urgent hearing in Tauranga from 30 June to 2 July 2014. The panel appointed to hear the claims comprised Judge Sarah Reeves (presiding), Ron Crosby, the Honourable Sir Douglas Kidd, and Professor Sir Tamati Reedy.
In October 2012, the Crown signed three deeds with the Rena owners to settle its claims for $27.6 million. The Tribunal’s final report focuses on the Crown’s conduct in entering one of those deeds, the wreck removal deed, which obliged the Crown to consider, in good faith, supporting an application by the owners for resource consent to leave the wreck on the reef. Such an application was lodged on behalf of the Rena owners in May 2014.
In the report, the Tribunal found that the obligations the Crown incurred under the wreck removal deed placed the Rena owners in a special position in the resource consent process in a way that had the potential to significantly affect Māori interests in Otaiti. Further, the Tribunal found that the Crown had signed the deed without having sufficient knowledge of Māori interests in the reef and without having consulted Māori, despite it being both practical and necessary for it to have done so.
The Tribunal considered that the Crown, by opting in August 2014 to partially oppose the Rena owners’ resource consent application, avoided the primary prejudice that could have arisen from its conduct in entering the wreck removal deed. However, the Tribunal also found that the Crown’s conduct diminished the Treaty partnership to the detriment of Māori and so prejudicially affected the claimants.
The Tribunal therefore found that the Crown’s conduct in entering the wreck removal deed without having consulted Māori breached the Treaty principles of partnership and mutual benefit. The Crown failed in its duty to act reasonably, honourably, and in good faith. The Tribunal made recommendations designed to remedy the prejudice that this caused the claimants.
The Tribunal’s final report followed an interim report released in July 2014 in anticipation of an all-of-government response to the owners’ resource consent application. In that report, the Tribunal found that the Crown’s consultation process with Māori as it prepared to decide its position on the owners’ resource consent application had breached the principles of good faith and partnership. The Tribunal’s interim report is included as an appendix to its final report.
