NEW FRONTIERS

For oppressed minorities, the struggle for justice is often uneasy, rough, strange and dangerous.  It takes leaders who are focused, unbending, unstoppable visionaries breaking new ground as they go.  Their contemporaries often don’t appreciate the change and disruption they bring, preferring the comfort of a familiar oppressor to the freedom of new frontiers.  Harriet Tubman who ran the underground railway north for runaway slaves from the south once said, “I saved a thousand.  I could have saved a thousand more – if they knew that they were slaves.”

Similarly, in the Māori fight for justice against the thief who stole their lands, there are often unappreciated new frontiers opening up.  One such was that pioneered by Mangatū Incorporation last year which meant claimants to the Waitangi Tribunal can now have their applications for remedies heard.  It also means they are no longer forced to stay in negotiations with a thief who holds all the cards, controls all the resources and sets all the parameters for settlement.

Ngāti Kahu were the first claimant group to withdraw from negotiations and seek remedies from the Tribunal, including binding recommendations for the return of 27b properties currently held by private owners.  If they secure even one such binding recommendation, they will have successfully opened another new frontier for all claimants. 

This has in turn raised a number of possibilities, and on day four of last week’s hearing one of those solidified into fact with an announcement by Te Rarawa that they too were filing a claim for remedies against the Crown; but only a partial remedy for those blocks of land in the Ngāti Kahu claim area for which Te Rarawa say they also have a mana whenua interest. 

Because Ngāti Kahu have already proven that one of the seven well-founded claims in the Waitangi Tribunal’s 1977 report was WAI 22 (the consolidated claim for all five iwi), Te Rarawa can legitimately seek remedies.  Indeed, so too can Ngāitakoto, Te Aupōuri and Ngāti Kuri if they want.

However Te Rarawa will first have to deal with the fact that, at this stage, the Tribunal will only consider a claim for a full package of remedies, and even then only after negotiations to settle have failed.    

Because Te Rarawa is still pushing to sign the Crown’s deed of settlement they initialled last year, some suspect that they don’t actually want remedies, and have merely lodged their claim as an attempt to deter the Tribunal from making orders in Ngāti Kahu’s favour.  However I prefer to give my Te Rarawa whanaunga the benefit of the doubt. 

In any event, even if they are not an entirely willing pioneer on this new frontier, should they be successful in gaining a hearing of their claim for partial remedies, Te Rarawa may yet contribute to opening it up further.