Ngāi Tahu and Tainui receive $370 million in Treaty payment top-ups, with more to come

Saturday, 20 January 2018

The government says the recent Ngāi Tahu and Tainui-Waikato Treaty settlement payout won't affect other iwi negotiating a fair deal in the future. Both iwi received a combined $370 million as part of a special clause in their Treaty settlements.

Two iwi have quietly been paid huge top-ups, totalling $370 million, to their supposed 'full and final' Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Waikato-Tainui received $190m and the South Island's Ngāi Tahu $180m – more than they originally settled for in 1995 and 1998, respectively.

The Government made the payments on December 15 without any public announcement, but they were discovered by Stuff and confirmed by the Office of Treaty Settlements this week.

Prime Minister Jim Bolger and Ngāi Tahu leader Sir Tipene O'Regan hongi after signing the Ngāi Tahu deed of settlement at Takahanga Marae in Kaikoura in 1997. Treaty Settlements Minister Doug Graham signs at left.

In response to Stuff's inquiries, Ngāi Tahu released information about the payout to its 58,000 iwi members, who hadn't been told about it.

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The payments were made because of 'relativity' clauses the tribes negotiated during the 'fiscal envelope' settlement process in the mid-1990s.

Shane Jones said the longer the Treaty settlement process 'drifts on, the greater the threat to the reservoir of public goodwill'.

It meant that once total Treaty settlement spending throughout the country reached $1 billion, the two iwi were entitled to payments proportional to other tribes' settlements.

For Tainui, the figure was 17 per cent, valued in 1994 dollars, and for Ngāi Tahu, 16 per cent.

Wira Gardiner said the relativity clauses were offered at a time when there was a huge backlash from Māori against a capped settlement.

Ngāi Tahu Board chairwoman Lisa Tumahai said the relativity clause was an agreement between the Crown and Ngāi Tahu that 'ensures that as one of the first iwi to settle, our economic redress continues to remain relative with all future claims settled by other iwi'.

The clauses were triggered for the first time in 2012, when Tainui was paid $70m and Ngāi Tahu $68.5m. There has been ongoing arbitration over whether those figures were high enough.

Former Prime Minister John Key chats to Pita Sharples, the Māori Affairs Minister, at the Treaty Settlement hui in 2009.

Since then, there have been more than two dozen settlements, the biggest of which was with Tūhoe, which received $168m in cash.

There are likely to be further large top-ups, with one of the country's biggest claims, by Ngāpuhi in Northland, among the 47 negotiations still under way.

Alvina Edwards is studying towards a PhD. She says she has had support from her iwi Ngāi Tahu, including financial contributions.

Total Treaty settlement spending currently sits at $2.2 billion.

Both Tainui and Ngāi Tahu were paid $170m in their original settlements – but have now received $260m and $248m, respectively, in additional payments.

The clauses, agreed by the National Government of the day, were to induce the two iwi to become the first to settle and to ensure they were not disadvantaged, but have become something of a millstone around successive Governments' necks.

A source in the Labour-led Government said some ministers were unhappy that every time a Treaty settlement was achieved, another 33 cents in the dollar had to be paid to the two tribes.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little said no-one had expressed unhappiness to him, although several members of the new Government were unaware of the clauses.

He said the payments were agreed by Cabinet and would have been made public, but the timing wasn't right.

'We didn't want to look like we were burying a significant announcement in that final rush to Christmas.'

Little said there was a contractual obligation on the Crown to pay the top-ups.

'We're stuck with what we've got. That's the reality.'

New Zealand First's Shane Jones, the Minister of Regional Economic Development, who was involved in the Treaty negotiation process in the 90s, said the clauses were a reason to wrap up the Treaty process as quickly as possible.

'The longer it drifts on, the greater the threat to the reservoir of public goodwill.'

Associate professor Peter Adds, a Treaty negotiator from Victoria University's school of Māori studies, said the relativity clauses were 'probably a mistake'.

He suspected the Crown didn't realise at the time the extent to which the $1b fiscal cap would blow out.

'They could legislate to remove it, but that would be asking for big trouble from both Tainui and Ngāi Tahu – they have the resources to hold that process up in court forever.'

Adds said although the public was told at the time the settlements were 'full and final', none of the parties believed that.

'I think they knew and we knew it was a PR stunt to some extent. You can't really make them full and final.'

Wira Gardiner, whose job was to sell the National Government's 'fiscal envelope' plan to Māori in the 90s, said the relativity clauses were offered as sweeteners at a time when there was a huge backlash from Māori against a capped settlement.

'When the Government offered the clause, they didn't fully realise what they were doing.'

He said Tainui and Ngāi Tahu had strong cases against the Crown and without the cap would have received more than they originally did.

Gardiner's iwi, Ngāti Awa, was the third tribe to settle. 'We were third off the rank and tried to negotiate the relativity clause too, but [Treaty Negotiations Minister] Doug Graham told us to f… off.'

An article on the relativity clause in the December 2017 edition of Ngāi Tahu's magazine Te Karaka described it as an 'elegant insurance policy'.

'While it has its detractors from outside the iwi, it is important to understand that relativity is not 'double dipping'. Relativity payments are deferred redress… Ngāi Tahu whānui have had to wait 20 extra years to receive,' the article said.

In a statement, Tainui said the Tribal Parliament would meet in February to decide how the latest payment would be used 'to achieve our strategic vision'.

Tumahai said all of the money would be invested with the Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation. She expects it will grow the iwi's $1b economic base and increase distributions to tribal members and entities.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Waikato student Alvina Edwards has studied alongside all four of her children at university.

Support from her tribe, Ngāi Tahu, and for the children, from both Ngāi Tahu and Tainui, has been fundamental to her family's success, she says.

'All of my children have been in tertiary study and they have all been really well supported academically. They get some really substantial grants from Tainui.'

At 56, Edwards is about to submit her PhD on indigenous identity, the culmination of a decade of study, during which she has completed two degrees and her masters.

She also works at Waikato University mentoring Māori students, tutoring and sessional assistant.

'This house has been a hub of study.'

Both tribes had a strong focus on youth, providing wananga, training opportunities and resources to support their young people from birth, she said.

'The resources right across the board are incredible, and it's our money. It's making up for all the decades, all the economic failings, when all that educational support wasn't there.' - Additional reporting by Catherine Groenestein

* A caption on a previous version of this article said Alvina Edwards got an education from scholarships funded by Treaty payments. In fact, she says, she received significant personal and financial assistance from her iwi, including some small Treaty scholarships.

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