The landscape of Pare Hauraki has been forever changed following the final reading of three settlement bills in Parliament, securing a collective $20 million financial and commercial redress package for Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu, Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Ngāti Hei. 

“It’s great to get through to this point, get the reading done and confirm and set in concrete a lot of the structure and the assets that are gonna go towards reinvigorating our people back on Te Aroha,” Chair of the Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu Trust Daniel Braid says.

“There’s a lot of emotion. To call it a celebration would be the wrong word given the journey it’s taken to get here, the work that’s been done and everything involved and for Ngāti Tumutumu, this is part of the process to get our people back on our whenua,” Braid says. 

Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu will receive total financial and commercial redress of $5.5 million; the right to purchase two commercial redress properties; and the vesting of 17 individual and two joint cultural redress properties. 

“While no settlement can fully compensate for the Crown’s injustices towards Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu, Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Ngāti Hei, I sincerely hope this redress will support these Hauraki iwi to strengthen their economic, cultural and environmental aspirations, and provides a platform for enduring relationships between the Crown and iwi for generations to come,” Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  

“Through these settlements, the Crown has formally acknowledged the cumulative impacts of its historical breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi. These breaches contributed to loss of whenua, environmental harm and constrained the ability of these iwi to provide for their present and future generations,” he says. 

Ngāti Tara Tokanui will receive total financial and commercial redress of $6 million; the right to purchase for two years after the settlement date, the Paeroa College school site (land only) subject to its lease-back to the Crown; and the vesting of seven individual and two joint cultural redress properties. 

“It’s been a momentous occasion, it’s a complex process and it’s full of a lot of issues but I think for the people it’s really good for them to be together and you know always with these sorts of experiences and especially for the rangatahi and the tamariki to to be able to be in Parliament,” says Ngāti Tara Tokanui negotiator Russell Karu. 

“These occasions for iwi are always about the tamariki and the rangatahi because they’re moments they get to share,” Karu says.  

Ngāti Hei is located on the eastern seaboard of the Coromandel Peninsula from Onemana to Whangapoua. Their area of interest is centred around Tairua and Ahuahu and includes offshore islands extending north to Cuvier Island. 

Kua ea ngā hara o te Karauna ki ngā iwi e toru o Pare Hauraki

Kua tutuki ngā wawata o te tini o Pare Hauraki i tēnei rā whakahirahira, whai muri i te pānuitanga whakamutunga o ngā Pire Whakataunga Kerēme e toru ki roto i te Whare Pāremata. 

E toru ngā iwi, arā, a Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu, a Ngāti Tara Tokanui, me Ngāti Hei, kua whakaaetia kia $20 miriona te katoa o ngā moni me ngā rawa arumoni hei whakaoranga mō rātou. Kua roa te wā e whiriwhiri ana ki te Karauna, ā, e tūmanakohia ana ka tautoko tēnei whakaoranga i ngā aronga ōhanga, ahurea, me te taiao o ngā iwi.

“Kia hoki ngā mahara i a rātou mā kāore anō kia tae mai. He nui aku mihi ki a rātou mā kua ngaro. Koia te kaupapa,” he tā Larn Wilkinson o Ngāti Tara Tokanui. “Kua mutu kē ngā wareware, ngā āwangawanga. Ahakoa he āwangawanga kei mua anō i a tātou mā. Ko tēnā te mea nui, ka puta ngā hua. Ka puta ngā hua mō tā mātou iwi kia ora pai ai, kia whakatika te ara ki mua tēnei huarahi anō mō tātou anō o Pare Hauraki. Rawe, he mea pai tēnā,” hei tāna anō.

Ka tae ā-tinana atu a Arleen McLaren o Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu ki te whare pāremata kia rongo ai ia ki te mutunga o te tukanga whakatau kerēme mō tōna iwi. “I uru mai tātou ngā iwi o Pare Hauraki ki te whakarongo, ki te whakatau i te kerēme. Ki ahau nei, e tino harikoa ana ahau ki te tau. Kua tutuki ngā moemoeā o ngā tūpuna ā kui mā, ā koro mā. Nā reira, āe kua tino harikoa ahau i tēnei wā,” hei tā McLaren. “Ināianei, ka eke tātou ki tētahi taumata anō mō ngā mokopuna, mō ngā uri e heke mai nei. Ko rātou te whakaaro nui i tēnei wā tonu.”

Kua whai tikanga/kaupapa whakahaere ngā iwi e toru me Te Manatū Taonga me Te Manatū Ahu Matua, tae atu hoki ki Te Papa Atawhai.

Hei tā Greg Fleming, Mema Pāremata mō Maungakiekie o te rōpū Nāhinara e manawanui ana ia mō ngā iwi o Hauraki. “Nōku te tino maringa nui te tū ki tō koutou tirohanga, ā, ka whakanui tō koutou haerenga, tō koutou manawanui ki tēnei rā,” hei tā Fleming.  “E mihi ana ki ngā kaiwhiriwhiri kua whiriwhiria i tēnei kerēme. Ahakoa te uauatanga o te tukanga, ehara i te tukanga hapa kore, heoi he tukanga pai,” hei tāna anō. 

The Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu Deed of Settlement is available at: Te Tari Whakatau – Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu. Its Claims Settlement Bill is at Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu Claims Settlement Bill | New Zealand Legislation.

The Ngāti Tara Tokanui Deed of Settlement is available at: Te Tari Whakatau – Ngāti Tara Tokanui. Its Claims Settlement Bill is at Ngāti Tara Tokanui Claims Settlement Bill | New Zealand Legislation.

The Ngāti Hei Deed of Settlement is available at: Te Tari Whakatau – Ngāti Hei. Its Claims Settlement Bill is at Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill | New Zealand Legislation.