East coast iwi reject settlement law
East coast iwi reject settlement law
East Coast
iwi Ruawaipu are opposed to the recently enacted Ngati Porou
Claims Settlement Act which removes the jurisdiction of the
Waitangi Tribunal from hearing Ruawaipu claims. Ruawaipu
claimant Henry Koia stresses that Ruawaipu were here long
before the arrival of the Ngati Porou migrants and that
Ruawaipu did not cede their sovereignty to the British.
“Both the government and Ngati Porou did not like
the tone of Ruawaipu claims which posed a direct threat to
Crown sovereignty and Ngati Porou’s claims of mana
whenua” said Mr Koia. If this is the case, then
legislating away Ruawaipu’s right to a Tribunal hearing
would appear to suit the settlement parties as a convenient
means of defusing those threats.
Mr Koia presses his
point that it is no longer about Treaty grievances. “Now
we are talking about the government’s abuse of our human
rights. The settlement Act abuses our right to justice
contained in the Bill of Rights Act, and legalizes the
illegitimate transfer of our lands to another people in
violation of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous
peoples” he said.
Mr Koia warns other iwi of the
emergence of a pattern within the government’s settlement
program based on the East Coast template. “They apply
their policy of settling with large natural groupings to
suit themselves. Winners are chosen and accorded government
backing while the protests of vulnerable iwi like Ruawaipu
are ignored” said Mr Koia.
Mr Koia advocates that
systemic abuses of Maori rights is a symptom of an
underlying problem. “The problem is that we lack a Maori
rights protectorate mechanism within our constitutional
arrangements with the power to veto bad law such as this
Act” he said.
Mr Koia intends to call a tribal
meeting to discuss the implications of the settlement Act
for Ruawaipu and proposes to table a draft declaration for
ratification by the iwi. “I will be asking my people to
declare their refusal to recognize the Ngati Porou
settlement Act as legally valid, and to declare our Treaty
grievances against the British Crown as unresolved” he
said.
As a consequence of those declarations, Mr Koia
will seek tribal resolutions that Ruawaipu fight the
government until justice is seen to be done; to submit a
formal human rights complaint to the UN; and drive the
establishment of a Maori Protectorate. “They thought the
Act would floor Ruawaipu. Instead, we’re just putting on
the gloves” said Mr Koia.