19 September 2002

Media release – Mâori Affairs Committee

Inquiry into the Crown Forestry Rental Trust

Today Parliament’s Mâori Affairs Committee agreed to continue the previous committee’s inquiry into the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. In order to do this the committee resolved to resume the inquiry with the same terms of reference as the previous inquiry and will adopt the evidence and advice received by the previous committee.

The committee noted that the inquiry was near to completion at the end of the 46th Parliament and intends to pick up where the previous committee left off. The committee resolved to hear evidence from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

The inquiry has the following terms of reference:

To inquire into the operations and performance of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. Matters that the committee will consider in its inquiry include:

1. Whether the Crown Forestry Rental Trust is fulfilling the purpose for which it was established
2. An assessment of the performance of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to date
3. The progress the Crown Forestry Rental Trust has made towards determining the ownership of Crown forestry assets
4. What impediments exist to prevent the final determination of the ownership of the Crown forestry assets
5. The relationship between the Crown Forestry Rental Trust and other parties including claimants, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Office of Treaty Settlements and other institutions in the treaty settlement process and the impact of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust’s ‘New Direction’ on these relationships
6. The criteria used by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to determine the allocation of funding to claimants
7. The appropriateness of the current legislative framework of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust
8. The appropriateness of the current lines of accountability of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust

ENDS

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