Land at Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast has been held under perpetual lease for more than 100 years, locking Māori out of controlling what is legally theirs. Photo: Ben Cowper / Gisborne Herald
A Green Party politician is vowing to make perpetual leases an election issue as Māori landowners continue their fight to gain back control of their whenua.
List MP Elizabeth Kerekere, of Gisborne, last week announced the Green Party was launching a petition to abolish lease conditions which were incorrectly applied to East Coast land blocks in Tokomaru Bay some time after 1910.
Since then, about 26,000 hectares of land around the country have been locked up under the arrangement which allows lessees the right to renew their lease in perpetuity.
Other conditions include rent being fixed for 21-year periods at between 4 and 5 percent of the land's unimproved value, depending on whether it is urban or rural.
Dr Kerekere called perpetual leasing an "unjust colonial weapon" initiated without the consent of Māori landowners and used against them.
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, she promised to hold the government accountable in getting rid of them.
"We're not prepared to let the government get away with it … we are going to make this an election issue."
Dr Kerekere said although Labour was currently in a majority position, that might not be the case come October, and she planned to push for a review following the election.
Dr Elizabeth Kerekere Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
"We are so up for this fight."
The first-time MP also took aim at Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson over his response to whānau affected by the leases, and lack of willingness to engage in a review.
In February 2022, one of the beneficial owners of the Tuatini Blocks contacted Jackson through McCaw Lewis Lawyers to lobby the government for change.
A request to meet with the minister was not responded to, resulting in a follow-up letter in April asking him to consider a review of Māori Reserved Land legislation.
Jackson replied in June, saying he supported the steps the owners were taking but did not support a review because of ones which had already been undertaken between 1991 and 1997.
While he sympathised "greatly" with the concerns raised, he wrote he was "unable to support a review of the Act at this time".
Dr Kerekere says that's not good enough.
"I'm extremely disappointed in Minister Jackson - that when he engaged with those whānau, he could write it off so quickly.
"In a housing crisis, they've got land sitting there and they can't build houses on it."
Jackson responded to a request for comment from Local Democracy Reporting by saying it was a complex issue and that the Government had pursued a targeted approach to better support Māori landowners.
In 2018, Cabinet agreed to targeted amendments to the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 to support the Māori Land Court and its processes, Jackson said.
In 2021, changes were made to the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Act which sought to support Māori freehold owners in developing and living on their land.
The Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill was passed in May last year, recognising the relationship between the Crown and its Treaty partner, he said.
As of Friday, more than 3800 of a targeted 5000 people had signed the petition, the creation of which coincided with the 183rd anniversary of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.