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Two people have been appointed as members of the Waitangi Tribunal this month: Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou) and Dr Thomas Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato Tainui).‘The new appointments are an important recognition of the types of skills and capabilities needed for Tribunal panels,’ says Grace Smit, Director,...
Inquiry under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 concerning Military Veterans Claims (Wai 2500)NOTICE is hereby given that the Waitangi Tribunal has set a final filing date for the filing of new claims and amended claims seeking to participate in Wai 2500 – Military Veterans Kaupapa Inquiry.Date: Friday 23 September...
The Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) should provide a reasonable degree of protection to Māori interests, the Waitangi Tribunal has found.The Tribunal’s Report on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, released today, focuses on a clause in the TPPA which allows the Crown to take measures it...
The Waitangi Tribunal has found the Crown’s policy on the protection of the endangered Māui’s dolphin does not breach the Treaty of Waitangi.In The Priority Report concerning Māui’s Dolphin, released today, the Tribunal found that, while the dolphin is a taonga to two North Island coastal hapū, the Crown had...
The Report on Claims About the Reform of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, released today in pre-publication format, is the outcome of three claims from Māori landowners.Marise Lant, the named claimant for Wai 2478, is a former Māori Land Court staffer. Her claim was supported by Te Whānau a...
The Waitangi Tribunal today (5 February 2016) released a draft of a chapter from the report it is preparing into claims concerning proposed reforms to Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993. This followed an announcement last week that the Crown would embark on a series of informational hui about those...
The shocking poverty experienced by Te Urewera Māori was in large part caused by the Crown’s many breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Waitangi Tribunal has found in the sixth and final volume of its Te Urewera district inquiry report.The volume, released today, responded to claims made on behalf...
The Ngāpuhi Mandate Inquiry Report was released in final form on 21 December 2015. It was the outcome of an inquiry into 15 claims, primarily from Ngāpuhi hapū and collectives of hapū, relating to the Crown’s recognition of the Tūhoronuku Independent Mandated Authority (the Tūhoronuku IMA) as having a mandate...
The Waitangi Tribunal today released He Whiritaunoka: The Whanganui Land Report, in which it reports to the Crown on 83 claims of hapū and iwi of the Whanganui inquiry district. Finding that the claims were largely well founded, the Tribunal concludes that, since 1840, the Crown has caused Māori in...
The Waitangi Tribunal’s Final Report on the MV Rena and Motiti Island Claims has been published. In it, the Tribunal adjudged two Bay of Plenty claims concerning the removal of the wreck of the MV Rena from Otaiti (Astrolabe Reef) to be well founded.The claims, submitted by the Motiti Rohe...
The Waitangi Tribunal has today released the final version of its Te Aroha Maunga Settlement Process Report. The report is the result of an urgent inquiry into an aspect of the Treaty settlement process in the Hauraki district. The Waitangi Tribunal had previously found, in 2006, that groups in the...
On 15 December 2014, the Waitangi Tribunal released in pre-publication form the fifth part of its report on Te Urewera claims. This part deals with Treaty of Waitangi claims in respect of Lake Waikaremoana, lodged by Tuhoe, Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngai Tamaterangi, and various associated groups and individuals. These...
In its report Whaia te Mana Motuhake / In Pursuit of Mana Motuhake: Report on the Māori Community Development Act Claim released on 8 December 2014, the Waitangi Tribunal has upheld the New Zealand Māori Council’s claim that the Crown’s review of the Māori Community Development Act 1962, and its...
Treaty Signatories Did Not Cede Sovereignty in February 1840 – TribunalThe rangatira who signed te Tiriti o Waitangi in February 1840 did not cede sovereignty to the British Crown, the Waitangi Tribunal has concluded.The Tribunal today released its report on stage 1 of its inquiry into Te Paparahi o te...
In an interim report released today, the Waitangi Tribunal has found that the Crown’s conduct in response to the grounding of the MV Rena on Otaiti (Astrolabe) Reef breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.The Tribunal has released its interim report to inform the pending all-of-government response to the...
The Waitangi Tribunal Chairperson, Chief Judge Wilson Isaac, today (2 July 2014) launched the Waitangi Tribunal’s Strategic Direction 2014 to 2025.
Tākiri te haeata, ka ao, ka awatea, horahia mai ko te ao mārama Dawn breaks, comes the daylight and the world is aglow with brilliant light
Read the Strategic Direction 2014...
In a report released today (23 December 2013), the Waitangi Tribunal declined to make a binding recommendation for the return of Crown forest licensed land to Māori groups in the Tūranga (Gisborne) district.The Mangatū Remedies Report is the result of separate applications by the Mangatū Incorporation, Te Aitanga a Māhaki...
The Waitangi Tribunal has today (12 November 2013) released its final report on 41 Treaty claims of ngā iwi and hapū of te kāhui maunga, the chiefly cluster of mountains, which include Tongariro, Ngāuruhoe, Ruapehu, Pīhanga, Hauhungatahi, and Kakaramea. All iwi and hapū who had their claims heard have close...
Last month marked the passing of Judge Norman Francis Smith, former deputy chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal and deputy chief judge of the Māori Land Court. Judge Smith served as deputy chairperson from 1993 until his retirement in 1998. During these years, he presided over many urgency and remedies judicial...
Tribunal Says Non-binding Recommendations are WarrantedThe Waitangi Tribunal today (4 February 2013) released its report on an application by Ngāti Kahu – an iwi of the Te Hiku (Far North) region – for the return of land within their tribal area and other assets, together totalling $260 million.The application of...