AIP Letter To Beneficiaries 22 February 2010

 

Ngati Whatua O Orakei Maori Trust Board
P O Box 42 045,
Orakei

22 February 2010



E rau rangatira ma.

E nga uri na Tuperiri.

E te hunga taketake o Orakei, tena koutou.

Tena ano koutou i te ahuatanga o te hunga mate, ratou kua huri atu ki tua o te arai.  Na, ko ratou te hunga mate ki a ratou, ko tatou nga kanohi ora waihotanga ake ki a tatou.

Heoi ano kati.

You may have been hearing snippets of information about the new agreements we have signed with the Crown to settle our Wai 388 Treaty of Waitangi claim.

Much of what you read may be misleading so I will now give you a summary of what we have agreed and why, and then the process for the next three months as we focus on explaining our progress to date.

Enclosed are the following documents:

1. The Supplementary Agreement which amends certain provisions in the Agreement in Principle (AIP)  previously signed in 2006.
2. The Framework Agreement which involves the ownership of maunga and the Right of First Refusal (RFR) over surplus Crown properties.  Note that this is a collective tribal agreement covering the Ngati Whatua, Tainui and Hauraki interests within the greater Auckland area between Muriwai in the west, Long Bay in the north, Miranda in the east and Port Waikato in the south.
3. Map of the RFR area clearly showing the difference between our 2006 agreement and new 2010 agreement.
4. Question and Answer sheet on some likely questions.

On February 12 the Trust Board signed the conditional Supplementary and Framework agreements.  Do I like these agreements?  I have grown to accept them and the longer I look at them the more benefit for Ngati Whatua o Orakei I can see.

Similar to 2006 when we negotiated an agreement within the framework of then Crown policy, again today in 2010 we have negotiated within a framework that both ourselves and the Crown can live with.

The most obvious changes since 2006, can be illustrated in the following table:



As you can see, some items have improved, some have stayed the same, and others have changed.  One particular change is in regard to the collective iwi approach.  This change follows a decision from the Waitangi Tribunal – dubbed the ‘Wainwright Decision’ – that said the Crown should be negotiating collectively and not with individual iwi, and also the CNI (Central North Island or ‘Tree Lords Deal’) agreement that was collective and regional. You may also be aware of the collective approach being taken in the far north with the Te Hiku Forum involving five separate iwi.

In truth, in today’s terms this new set of agreements is neither worse nor better than what we previously had.  What I have come to see, however, is that over time the benefits of these new agreements will place Ngati Whatua o Orakei in a much stronger position in the wider Auckland region than would have been the case if the collective agreements had not been in place.  We have the opportunity to exert influence beyond central Auckland to a much wider area from Muriwai in the West, to Long Bay in the North, to Port Waikato in the South and East as far as Miranda.  Let me explain that to you.

As far as RFR is concerned what it means under the new agreement is that if core Government land in the whole Auckland region comes up for sale in the next 170 years the collective must be offered the opportunity to buy it before it can be offered to any other party. The collective has agreed to ballot these opportunities on a three-way carousel. So Ngati Whatua o Orakei, Hauraki and Tainui interests will in turn exercise a first RFR for respective surplus Crown properties.

In our 2006 AIP we had negotiated a 100-year RFR for Government land in the centre of Auckland from the Whau River in the west to Mission Bay to about Penrose and back to the Whau – so we now have a longer period for RFR and a significantly larger area to draw from.

There are a couple of things to think about with RFR.  Firstly it is not a guaranteed benefit.  By that I mean under the 2006 agreement we would have only got benefit if the Government decided to sell land in central Auckland and possibly this would have been a rare occasion.  It is more likely, as land became scarcer and more valuable in central Auckland, a prudent government would have chosen to hold on to it.

However this may not be so in the wider region which again extends from Muriwai to Long Bay, to Miranda to Port Waikato.

The advantage we have is that if others in the collective do not want the purchase or cannot fund a purchase then we may find that Ngati Whatua, with its large economic base, will be able to make a deal work and so further expand our asset base across the entire region.  The more I look at this, given our current asset base and experience in property, the more comfortable I am that we will be able to make this change in the agreement work very positively for the hapu.

Under the 2006 AIP we had exclusive ownership and co-management with the Auckland City Council of Maungawhau/Mt Eden, Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill and Puketapapa/Mt Roskill.  Under the new agreements we share ownership of 11 maunga throughout the Auckland region including Maungawhau/Mt Eden, Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill and Puketapapa/Mt Roskill with a collective of Ngati Whatua, Tainui and Hauraki interests.

These additional maunga include Ohuiarangi (Pigeon Mountain), Te Ara Pueru (Mt Mangere), Otahuhu (Mt Richmond), Maungarei (Mt Wellington), Titikopuke (Mt St John), Remuera (Mt Hobson), Takarunga (Mt Victoria) and Te Tatua a Riukiuta (Big King).

This effectively removes ownership of these sacred sites from the Crown transferring them to Maori ownership. The Tamaki Collective is also determined to add to this list the Department of Conservation-owned Maungauika (North Head) and Rangitoto, Motutapu and Motu a Ihenga islands.

What this does is create an opportunity to put in place a comprehensive protection programme for all maunga including Maungawhau, Maungakiekie and Puketapapa so they are protected and recognised at a much higher level.  This allows us to fulfil our kaitiaki responsibility for our ancestral maunga, and we are able to pass on our 19 years of experience in co-management of significant sites to Auckland City and the collective.

I also bring to your attention that we will secure for our exclusive ownership the Pourewa Creek Reserve. This is the 31-hectare reserve occupied by the St Heliers Bay Pony Club, and we propose this be added to the Whenua Rangatira Reserve which we have owned and co-managed with the Auckland Council since 1991.

I hope this letter and supporting documentation clarifies where we are at.  What we now do is go into the next round of negotiation to nail down the fine detail that will lead to the broad terms set out in the original AIP and supplementary agreement being turned into a Deed of Settlement.  We hope that can be concluded this year.  But, before a Deed of Settlement can be signed we will bring the full details to you and ask you to participate in a vote that will allow the Deed of Settlement to be signed.

We will be holding information hui from 1pm to 4pm on the following dates at Orakei Marae:

28th February  7th March   14th March

We also plan to hold information hui outside of Auckland during March and April in Whangarei, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch. Can you please indicate your preference of area by phoning 09 336 1670 (collect) or by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A further hui will then be held on 9th May to report back on the regional hui at Orakei.

We are also forming an email database so we can keep you updated on this matter and any others that may arise. Please send your name and email address as soon as possible to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As a final thought, I would address the concept of mana whenua.

Our mana can never, has never and will never be taken from us.  Our mana is who we are, it comes to us through our tupuna and it is not something that leaves us or returns to us.

This deal is not about the Crown restoring our mana because it was and is always with us.  This settlement is about the Crown recognising its mistakes following its breaches of the Treaty agreements it made with us, and restoring its honour.

No piece of pakeha legal description will somehow override our mana and our connection with our maunga.

You and I extend our influence as far and as wide as we choose to extend our influence.  Our mana is in our heart and our head and our spirit.

We are Te Taou, we are Nga Oho, we are Te Uringutu, we are Ngati Whatua o Orakei; we know the places where our hearts and minds love and have connection to.  We know those places where our tupuna walked, lived and loved as well.

Perhaps we could be looking at what the expression of mana whenua for Ngati Whatua o Orakei will be in the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries.  If we look closely at that we are very well placed.

Ma te Atua ano tatou e manaaki e tiaki.


Na,


Grant Hawke

Chairman

Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board