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In the Mangatū Remedies Report 2021, released today (1 October 2021), the Waitangi Tribunal  makes an interim recommendation under section 8HB of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 that the Crown return to Māori ownership the Mangatū Crown forest land in the Tūranganui a Kiwa district, together with monetary compensation.

During 2018 and 2019, the Tribunal heard remedies applications seeking such a recommendation from several claimant groups: Te Aitanga a Māhaki and the Mangatū Incorporation, Ngā Uri o Tamanui, and Te Whānau a Kai. Another group, Te Rangiwhakataetaea–Wi Haronga–Ngāti Matepu, participated in the remedies inquiry as an interested party. The Tribunal had previously inquired into the claims of Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngā Uri o Tamanui, and Te Whānau a Kai in the Tūranga district inquiry, reporting on them in the 2004 Turanga Tangata Turanga Whenua: The Report on the Turanganui a Kiwa Claims. In that report, the Tribunal made findings on Crown Treaty breaches in the district, ranging from the attack on the defensive pā at Waerenga a Hika in 1865 to the Crown’s acquisition in 1961 of parts of the land now comprising the Mangatū Crown forest licensed land.

In this subsequent remedies inquiry, the Tribunal was required to decide whether to recommend the return of land as a remedy for the claimants’ well-founded claims that relate to the Mangatū Crown forest licensed land. If the Tribunal determined that the land should be returned to Māori, it would then have to decide how much and to which claimant groups. Under section 36 of the Crown Forest Assets Act 1989, and schedule 1 to that Act, the return of Crown forest licensed land to Māori ownership is also accompanied by monetary compensation. The value of the available compensation is tied to the value of the of the cutting rights for the Mangatū Crown forest, which were sold by the Crown in 1990. The Tribunal has a discretion to award between 5 and 100 per cent of the available compensation.

In the Mangatū Remedies Report 2021, the Tribunal determines that Te Aitanga a Māhaki and the Mangatū Incorporation, Ngā Uri o Tamanui, and Te Whānau a Kai have well-founded claims that relate to the Mangatū Crown forest land. The relevant claims address Crown Treaty breaches that led to the loss of the claimants’ tino rangatiratanga and mana whenua in that land. The claims concern both the specific circumstances in which the land was lost from Māori ownership, as well as the Crown’s wider actions that were specifically designed to destroy Māori autonomy and control over their lands in Tūranga.

As a remedy for the prejudice suffered by the claimants, the Tribunal determines that the whole of the Mangatū Crown forest licensed land should be returned to Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngā Uri o Tamanui, and Te Whānau a Kai. The claimants should receive the full financial compensation available under schedule 1 to the Crown Forests Assets Act. The Mangatū land should be returned to a collective trust to be established by the claimants, called the Mangatū Forest Collective Trust. The trust’s beneficiaries would be the legally recognised governance entities that Te Aitanga a Māhaki Trust, Ngā Uri o Tamanui, and Te Whānau a Kai established following the 2018 remedies hearings, and which were ratified by the claimant communities.

Following the release of this report, claimant parties and the Crown have a period of 90 days to begin to negotiate the settlement of their claims. If an alternative agreement is reached through these negotiations, the Tribunal will cancel or modify its interim recommendation as necessary. Otherwise, after the 90 days has passed, the Tribunal’s interim recommendation becomes binding on the Crown.

The Mangatū Remedies Inquiry panel comprises Judge Stephanie Milroy (presiding), Tim Castle, Dr Ann Parsonson, and Ahonuku Tom Roa. Hearings were held in Gisborne and Wellington between August 2018 and July 2019.