New Maniapoto negotiator appointed

Media Statement 4 December 2017

For immediate use

Maniapoto, e te Iwi, a new negotiator has been appointed to join the settlement team for our Treaty of Waitangi claims.

Chairman Tiwha Bell has noted “As we announced earlier, previous negotiators, Nanaia Mahuta and Peter Douglas resigned. We called for people to put their hand up and we got a great response. As a result the Maniapoto Mā ori Trust Board has confirmed that Sir Wira Gardiner will join the team alongside Mook Hohneck, with specialist advisory appointments still in progress. We needed to move quickly to appoint a new negotiator so we could keep the momentum going from the Agreement in Principle signing.

We believe this is a strong team which will represent our iwi well. Between them our negotiators have strong governance, negotiation and leadership experience.The people gave a strong mandate to the Board to progress a settlement that will be decided in the future by the people of Maniapoto. We will continue to work hard to front our people, to keep updates on progress happening regularly and to listen to your feedback. We look forward to progressing the work completed to date under Nanaia Mahuta as lead negotiator.”

The team will continue with the initial Deed of Settlement phase of negotiations in order to get the best outcome for our people. Further updates and hui will resume in the new year. ends

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