Momentum grows stronger for Ngati Hine

Its full steam ahead as Ngati Hine moves up a notch in progressing the settlement of their historic Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims against the Crown. Ngati Hine continues to reject the Crown’s recognition of the Tuhoronuku Deed of Mandate which includes their hapu, marae and Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims without their consent.

Ngati Hine around the world are raising their voices and social networking sites are being flooded by blogs, messages and comments opposing Tuhoronuku and the Crown’s actions.

The thirteen strong and active marae have bannered together under Te Maara a Hineamaru. They have proven capabilities and capacity to manage their affairs and is widely recognised as leaders and innovators. As a hapu with considerable clout in Ngapuhi, Ngati Hine delivers commercial and social services within and beyond its own community.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hine Chairman Waihoroi Shortland says, "As Ngati Hine we have proven we can take care of ourselves, Tuhoronuku is not for Ngati Hine and the people have spoken. We are determined to seek our own mandate”.

Ngati Hine have joined in support of the Wai 2341 urgency application to the Waitangi Tribunal which asks the Tribunal to inquire into the application of the Crown’s settlement policy in Ngapuhi.

Judge Reeves issued a Direction on 21 March 2014. The Tribunal said that the Crown has been unacceptably slow in providing important information to the claimants. It expressed concern with the speed of the Tuhoronuku process which combined with the lack of information that had been provided, was contributing to disputes and tensions in the region stating that:

Given the size and complexity of this settlement and the level of opposition to the mandate, the Crown has a heightened duty to ensure the process is robust, fair and transparent, and the Crown’s conduct to date, particularly with regard to disclosure of information, raises concerns at this early stage.

The Tribunal directed the Crown to provide a copy of the submissions and to advise no later than 31 March as to whether it will agree to pause the Tuhoronuku election process to allow the Urgency Application to be updated. The Crown is also to note that any representation issues caused as a result of the process adopted to date will remain live in any hearing of this application.

Mr Shortland says “Ngati Hine will continue to challenge the Crown to ensure a fair, robust and durable settlement is achieved”. Despite the time frames agreed to by Tuhoronuku and the Crown, Ngati Hine continue to stay focused on ensuring the rangatiratanga of Ngati Hine stays intact.

END

© Scoop Media