Treaty settlements or Deeds of Settlement that may have implications for the Proposed NPS for Freshwater Management

Introduction

The Waikato River

Vesting of lake beds

Protocols

Statutory Acknowledgements

Deeds of Recognition

Appendices

References

The Waikato River

1. On 22 August 2008 the Crown and Waikato-Tainui signed a Deed of Settlement and the Kiingitanga Accord relating to the Waikato River. The settlement may have implications for the Proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. The Deed of Settlement can be found on the Office of Treaty Settlements website (www.ots.govt.nz).

2. A summary of the settlement package for the raupatu and other historical claims of Waikato-Tainui in relation to the Waikato River is attached to this report (Appendix 1).¹

3. The settlement provides for Waikato-Tainui to enter into Accords with a number of Ministers. Accords with the Ministers of Conservation and Fisheries have been signed. These may have implications for the Proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. The Conservation Accord can be found on the Department of Conservation website (www.doc.govt.nz) and the Fisheries Accord can be found on the Ministry of Fisheries website (www.fish.govt.nz).

4. The Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill was introduced and had its First Reading in September 2008. The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to the settlement with Waikato-Tainui. The Bill sets out an agreed vision and strategy for the Waikato River, which, once enacted, would give the vision and strategy the status of a national policy statement as well as recognition under a range of Acts. The Bill can be found on the New Zealand Legislation website (www.legislation.govt.nz).

Upper River Agreements

5. During the course of consultation in the Waikato-Tainui negotiations, the Crown agreed to negotiate co-management agreements with Raukawa and Te Arawa (jointly), and Ngāti Tūwharetoa over the upper Waikato River (from Huka Falls to Karapiro).

6. The upper river co-management agreements do not settle historical Treaty claims for Raukawa, Te Arawa or Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Rather, they are agreements that reflect a contemporary Crown–Māori relationship under the Treaty of Waitangi. The Raukawa/Te Arawa Deed and the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Deed were ready for signing late 2008 but have not yet been signed. The Raukawa/Te Arawa agreement is available on the Office of Treaty Settlements website (www.ots.govt.nz).

7. In addition, on 4 September 2008, the Crown and Maniapoto initialled an agreement, in principle, setting out a high level precursor for a more detailed co-management agreement to follow for the upper Waipā River, the principal tributary of the Waikato River. The Maniapoto agreement is available on the Office of Treaty Settlements website (www.ots.govt.nz).

Review

8. In April 2009 an independent panel was appointed to review the co-management arrangements for the Waikato and Waipā Rivers and report to Ministers on how effectively those arrangements meet the objectives of the Deed of Settlement with Waikato-Tainui and the intended co-management agreements with other Waikato River iwi.

9. The review may lead to negotiated refinements to the co-management arrangements in the Deed of Settlement with Waikato-Tainui and in the intended agreements with Raukawa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Maniapoto.

 

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