The Te Aroha maunga settlement process report

"This publication is the outcome of an urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into a claim submitted by Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu. Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu claimed that the Crown had breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by offering 1,000 hectares of Te Aroha maunga to the Hauraki Collective, a body established to negotiate and receive Treaty settlement assets on behalf of the 12 iwi of the Hauraki district, of which Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu were a member. They alleged that the Crown's process in offering the land to the Hauraki Collective was flawed because it failed to allow them to explore their aspirations for an exclusive return of all or part of that land to the iwi. In its report, the Tribunal found that the Crown did not breach Treaty principles in its conduct of the negotiations. While flaws in the process could be identified, the Tribunal considered that the broad initial support among the iwi for the return of the maunga to the collective was critical to gaining momentum in the negotiations and secured greater concessions from the Crown over the amount of land that would be returned. Although the Crown adopted a high-risk strategy, Hauraki iwi accepted the risk. The Crown's conduct in this case, the Tribunal concluded, was not inconsistent with applicable Treaty principles"--Publisher information.