Parliament’s resources were stretched to the limits today as around 800 central North Island Maori packed in to witness the signing of the biggest ever single treaty settlement.
Dubbed the ‘treelord’s deal’ treaty minister Michael Cullen says it is worth nearly half a billion dollars and covers 100,000 members.
The deal has been 20 years in the making and after 3 failed attempts the crown and iwi from the central North Island have only now signed on the dotted line.
The deal is a lucrative one for the seven iwi of the Central North Island collective or CNI as they have come to be known.
Michael Cullen today described the enormity of the deal “this is the single biggest treaty settlement in dollar terms, in terms of numbers of people - over 100 000 individuals are covered by the deal - and in terms of the amount of land - some 170,000 hectares - that is being transferred.”
When the settlement is made law which will likely be next year, the collective will become the largest land owner in the New Zealand forest industry. Cullen says that will allow CNI iwi to build an economic future.
The collective will receive almost 176,000 hectares of crown land, the majority in the Kaingaroa forest and valued at almost $196 million.
Added to that is the accumulated rents of $223 million and an annual income stream of $13 million.
If an emissions trading scheme is introduced they will also be able to negotiate carbon credits.
Paramount chief Tumu Te Heuheu says it will allow the iwi to enter the global market. “The CNI collective will be promoting a climate for the development of strategic relationships with many parties and organisations and this is critical to our success.”
The treelord settlement is unique as it was iwi who drafted it and then presented it to the crown for approval.
One other iwi, Ngati Rangatihi, has six months to join the group. Micahel Cullen explained “I think one of the reasons that this process has gone so well is that in fact the rangatira came to the fore and the lawyers went to the back”.
Today's settlement comes on the back of the Arawa settlement presented in parliament yesterday, worth nearly $100 million.
Cullen says this week is a historic one for treaty settlements.
3 News
source: newshub archive
