Media Release

Organisation: Māori Affairs Committee

For release: 14 March 2017

Have your say on the Iwi and Hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa Claims Settlement Bill

Submissions are now open on the Iwi and Hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa Claims Settlement Bill, a piece of legislation that would settle the historical Treaty of Waitangi Claims of the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa.

New Zealand’s Parliament sat in extended sitting hours today to pass the bill’s first reading.

The bill gives effect to the deed of settlement signed on the 26th of November 2016, in which the Crown and the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa agreed to a final settlement. Once passed, the legislation will give effect to the terms of the settlement.

Approximately 25,000 people make up the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe of Te Wairoa, and the area affected by the bill spans from Northern Hawke’s Bay to Southern Tūranga. It includes Wairoa township, Lake Waikaremoana, and the Mahi peninsula.

Tutehounuku Korako, the Chair of Parliament’s Māori Affairs Committee, says “this bill is an opportunity for the Crown to officially apologise to the iwi and hapū of the Wairoa rohe, and for the iwi and hapū to begin the healing process. If you have whakapapa links to the Wairoa rohe, please write us a submission and have your say.”

Tell the Māori Affairs Committee what you think

Send your submission on the bill by midnight on 26 April 2017.

For more details about the bill:

• Read the full content of the bill

• Get more details about the bill/petition

• What’s been said in Parliament about the bill?

• Follow the committee’s Facebook page for updates

ENDS

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