Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
22 SEPTEMBER 2016

Bill Offers No Resolution to Long-Running Dispute

Until a long running dispute is resolved, passing the Ngatikahu Ki Whangaroa Claims Settlement Bill is a serious mistake and will end up in a High Court case or back in Parliament, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Ngāti Aukiwa say Stony Creek Station should be returned to their hapū, not the whole iwi as the settlement bill requires.

“This has to be resolved before any bill is passed, otherwise an error is compounded making a court case inevitable and who will pay?

“The same problem exists now as it did many years ago when Dr Michael Cullen, as a representative of the Crown, attempted to negotiate a settlement, but without success.

“And it’s not going to be settled by passing this flawed Bill. We should put the firepower in, get the facts, and investigate and find a solution so everyone in Whangaroa is happy.

“What we have unfortunately is a whole lot of MPs excusing their support for this bill by saying many people have a relationship to certain blocks of land in question.

“That is not the point. Who has the ‘principal relationship’ is the judgement that should be made now,” Mr Peters says.

ENDS

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