Maniapoto is preparing final discussions on a vote for their Treaty of Waitangi settlement process.
Maniapoto Māori Trust Board chair Keith Ikin Photo: RNZ / Leigh-Marama McLachlan
It will be a vote without a required number or ratio, Maniapoto Māori Trust Board (MMTB) chair Keith Ikin said.
Ikin said it would be unlike a general election where a required threshold had to be met - and it would be contested.
"At the end of the day, the minister has the final sign off, so the settlement isn't a settlement until the minister has signed it off and he will look at participation and what the outcome of the vote has been," Ikin said.
"You can't put a threshold around how many need to participate in order for you to become the government. The key message for our people is if it is a 50:50 split its unlikely there will be a settlement. Even if it's a 55:45, there will be questions around it. So, the benchmark is higher than just achieving a majority."
The 50:50 split referred to the vote in May when breakaway group Te Whakaminenga o Rereahu challenged the MMTB mandated settlement.
Rereahu is a Maniapoto-affiliated hapū, determined by the government to be part of the Maniapoto 'large natural grouping'. Te Whakaminenga wants its own settlement, and its own Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE).
"As it currently stands, we don't see what we have requested or asked for in regards to Rereahu being identified, and having the ability to have its own PSGE to settle its own grievances and have its own settlement come back to us," said Te Whakameninga spokesperson Jack Te Reti.
"It's as simple as that. I'm not going to say the board hasn't reached out, they have. But they haven't come back with anything different. That's why we haven't agreed to meet and they haven't put anything in writing in front of us to propose what they want to talk about."
Te Whakameninga's main objection was against the Crown, which had not lived up to its treaty obligations, Te Reti said.
"How can you go into a partnership when a key partner is not participating as actively as they should. It creates the environment that we are currently in."
The Crown was insisting the parties continue on the path they were without obtaining a full gauge of the peoples' view, he said.
"It's clearly shown that there are issues that the Crown has not allowed us of Ngāti Maniapoto, Rereahu and Te Ihingārangi collectively - but if we just say Ngāti Manipoto and Rereahu - to get sorted, to sit down and say 'okay what's the best way forward', that we can believe and that's really the crux of this.
"We believe we have issues that the tribunal has pointed out, and the Crown has not done anything about."
A recommendation in the Maniapoto Mandate Inquiry Report of 2019 (Wai 2858) was that the Crown should give serious and due consideration to the possibility of Te Ihingārangi combining in any prospective PSGE with Ngāti Rereahu.
The tribunal also observed the Crown still had no policy or strategy for engaging with groups that did not fit neatly into its large natural grouping rubric. This left these groups and their claims in limbo with no clear pathway forward.
Meanwhile, both Ikin and Te Reti were urging people to vote.
The last vote called by Te Whakaminenga in May to leave the settlement process resulted in a 50:50 result, when a 75 percent majority was required. But only 2900 votes were recorded from an electorate of 14,077.
"We are just like the trust, it is hard to get our people out to vote," Te Reti said. "Whether they agree or disagree, we need them out there to vote."
Other issues included the claiming by the MMTB of commercial interests, also claimed by Rereahu.
"What we are saying is no, that is not acceptable. We want to be involved in that process to have the autonomy and the tino rangitiratanga to make our own decisions around not just the customary, but the commercial as well," Te Reti said.
"How much? To be honest, I've never looked at the money. I wouldn't know."
King Country News previously reported the Crown's settlement with Maniapoto included $165 million, plus about $6m in accrued Crown forestry rentals. Also included is the fisheries settlement, a fund that in 2015 was worth $13.4m.
However, the amount available to various PSGEs following any change allowing a Te Whakaminenga PSGE is unknown.
"Most of our land is wāhi tapu, most of our land is customary, so we don't have a lot of commercial redress," Te Reti said.
"But what we are saying when you come back to us as a people, what we are not satisfied with is [that] we are referred to as descending from Maniapoto.
"For our people that is an insult that can be fixed by removing us as 'descended from'. To say that we are all linked by whakapapa, that's not an issue at all."
The proposed Maniapoto PGSE was the result of three years of meetings around the rohe and outside, Ikin said.
Its structure reflects the current MMTB, and is a result of the input from the people.
The proposed Maniapoto PSGE to be named Te Nehenehenui, was similar to the current board structure with seven area representatives, six general representatives and a possible intern rep.
"That's how we got to the proposed structure of the PSGE. They have designed this, they have taken the feedback from our people and that's what's got us to what we have got there."
Rereahu wanting multiple settlement entities, rather than a single collective one was always going to be an issue, Ikin said.
"But outside that I expect we will get support for the PSGE because that has come from our people. There was a very strong voice amongst our people in terms of structure and participation through our marae and through the Regional Marae Committees (RMC) model that we currently have. They want to keep that at a high level," he said.
"But we have made some changes in terms of increasing participation in the election of RMC members. And that was clear feedback that came from our people as well."
Rereahu's continued opposition was a "huge frustration", he said.
"They won't even meet with us. After the mandate vote, they won't sit at the table and see if we can resolve a way forward," Ikin said.
"When you really look at it, they had 1400 people support their position. We didn't do better than them.
"I think once our people see the settlement and how it's proposed to be inclusive of everybody. It includes a fair bit of autonomy at a regional level as part of the collective. A lot of what Rereahu are looking for is what is actually proposed in the settlement."
Ikin believed the true value of the draft settlement was the new direct relationships between Maniapoto and government agencies.
"We believe that we can leverage and advocate and facilitate much better delivery of those sorts of services to our people. That's where you make the real impact in health and education in those areas. If we can get that influence right then I think we have an opportunity to really make a difference.
"It's the most critical time for us as a people, I would say for the last hundred years in terms of the importance of the decision."
The Treaty of Waitangi settlement process included a series of hui beginning 5 July. The hui supports a vote on the Deed of Settlement and the proposed Post Settlement Governance Entity trust deed.
Voting was open to all who affiliated to Maniapoto or were direct descendants of Maniapoto tūpuna and were aged 18 or over, and closed 16 August.
"It is really important that our whānau who whakapapa within Te Nehenehenui, are fully informed and participate in the decision to approve, or not, the proposed settlement [ratification]," Ikin said.
"What ratification means is that the DOS and proposed Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE) can now be presented to our people to consider. It is our people who will make the final decision on whether or not this settlement is agreed."
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