Ngāti Hinemanu me Ngāti Paki Heritage Trust chairperson Jordan Winiata says a recommendation by the Waitangi Tribunal on landlocked whenua in Taihape District has set a precedent for other iwi who can’t use their blocked off land.
In a report, He Whenua Karapotia, He Whenua Ngaro, the Waitangi Tribunal ruled that the Crown had committed multiple breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in allowing the landlocking of Ngāti Hinemanu and Ngāti Paki whenua in the Mōkai Pātea Taihape area. It said the Crown admitted it prioritised European landowners’ interests to the disadvantage of Māori landowners and conceded that its remedies in later years were ineffective.
The Waitangi Tribunal recommended that a significant contestable fund be set up by the Crown and compensation be paid directly to the affected landowners, which they can apply for via the Māori Land Court.
The fund would be used to enable applicants to meet costs that may be required to form and maintain reasonable legal access to their landlocked whenua, specifically dedicated to achieving lasting legal access solutions for landlocked Māori whenua in the district.
Winiata says, “The recommendation of the tribunal is going to bring more ability for the Māori Land Court to be more effective. It will then obviously bring further qualification for landlocked land masses in cases to be taken to the High Court. And then there is the ability to do the job, which is to source the resource to be able to create the access.”
Most Māori land in the Taihape district became landlocked between 1886 and 1912 as native land legislation of the time did not require the Court to preserve access to Māori land. Māori land was also able to be taken without compensation to build roads and accessways for non-Māori landowners.
“This means that, although Māori retain ownership of these lands, they cannot reach them unless they trespass on private or Crown land, hire a helicopter to fly them there, or negotiate some other way of securing access,” the report said.
Almost 74 per cent of remaining whenua Māori in the Taihape district is landlocked, equating to almost 23,472ha. Nationally, the proportion of all Māori land that is landlocked is estimated to be only up to 20 per cent, the report found.
Winiata says the Crown has underestimated the percentage of Māori landlocked land, “which is preventing the ability for Māori to be able to sustain and economically develop their land, to maintain their tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake in this modernised world”.
“So I think this is going to be the breakthrough for all of the motu that are in the situation where they’re landlocked.”
Caused significant prejudice
The tribunal found lack of ready access to landlocked lands has caused significant prejudice to whānau and hapū of the Taihape District over five generations.
“The biggest consequence that has been suffered by the people, and by the owners and the beneficiaries and the kaitiaki of the whenua, is not being able to put their feet on it, not being able to access their whenua, not being able to go there and smell it and look at it and stand on it,” Winiata says.
The Crown also conceded early in the inquiry, that the impact of the native land laws made the district’s Māori whenua more susceptible to fragmentation, alienation, and partition, and thus contributed to the undermining of tribal structures.
Ngāti Hinemanu and Ngāti Paki have been unable to access the whenua to develop or create revenue from it for recreational use such as hunting or fishing, for the regeneration and revitalisation of native species, for tourism and for forestry.
“The whole biodiversity and flora and fora, the whenua and everything has been hugely impacted negatively… I don’t think the Crown is ever going to be able to repay the disadvantage that the owners and the beneficiaries have suffered through their actions,” Winiata says.
Road access, not helicopters
Winiata says it can cost $3,000 to hire a helicopter that can only fit two people to access any landlocked whenua. So instead of hiring more helicopters, landowners would prefer to have road access.
“We don’t want to have 10 helicopters purchased so that we can access our lands because the outcome of that is not going to meet ultimately what we want to be able to do - and that is when our beneficiaries, owners and tribal members want to put their feet on the land they can do so reasonably and free.”
Winiata says neighbouring non-Māori land owners are often cooperative with allowing Māori to access their landblocked whenua but the process can often be with “hesitation”.
“The numbers, the red tape that that private owner can put up is just phenomenal… Sometimes we’ve got to humble ourselves. Some days it feels like you are begging.”
The next step
“Ngāti Hinemanau me Ngāti Paki claimants do not fully support a contestable fund as a way of providing settlement for Crown prejudices and breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but hope it will go a long way to resolve access issues that have plagued our owners for generations.”
In the report, the tribunal said that the proposed fund should not be taken from the money set aside for historical treaty settlements.
Winiata says he hopes the Crown will take on the tribunal’s recommendations but it will all depend “on how Te Arawhiti (Office for Māori Crown relations) will handle these matters under this current government.
“What they can all agree upon is that the amount of Māori locked land and how it’s become landlocked is a consequence of the Crown and so they can’t walk away from that.”