The amount allocated to Treaty of Waitangi settlements is tiny, compared with other Government spending

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

What led to the signing of the most important document in New Zealand's history?

The financial value of Treaty of Waitangi settlements look rather small when compared with other, much larger, items of Government spending – and when you consider the scale of the breaches. Data journalist Andy Fyers reports for Stuff's NZ Made/Nā Niu Tīreni project.

In the 100 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori land and the commerce they conducted on it were devastated. Poverty followed and the introduction of new, foreign diseases ravaged the Māori population.

Over the past 25 years, the Government and iwi across New Zealand have been working to acknowledge the historical grievances. In most cases, there has been a measure of financial redress for Crown wrongdoing and the return of many culturally significant sites to iwi.

But the Crown says the financial element of the settlements can never fully compensate the true value of loss in many claims. In particular, those where large areas of land were confiscated and then settled.

* The Treaty and Me: 60 seconds down the camera

* The vast scale of what was lost to Māori when NZ was made**

So far, there have been 73 settlements with the Crown passed into law. There are a further 11 settlements that have been agreed but are either awaiting the rubber stamp from Parliament or have failed to pass the final hurdle of Parliament.

The total value of all finalised settlements is $2.2 billion.

While that may seem like a lot of money, it's worth considering some other similar Government expenses for context: In just the next 12 months, the Government will spend (excluding capital investment) about $87b.

One of the biggest outgoings is superannuation at $14b. The entire value of Treaty settlements over the past quarter of a century would cover super payments for two months.

Stuff's project on the Treaty of Waitangi, NZ Made/Nā Nīu Tīreni, records the detail of every Treaty of Waitangi settlement to date.

Two of the most significant settlements were finalised in the early part of the settlement process in the 1990s. Ngāi Tahu of the South Island and Tainui of Waikato both agreed settlements with the Crown worth $170m.

Both of these also included 'relativity clauses' that see additional payments made when the total value of settlements passes certain thresholds. These were triggered in 2017.

Tainui's grievance included the forcible confiscation of the entire Waikato region in the 1860s, while Ngāi Tahu received only a fraction of the land that was supposed to be set aside for it when the Crown bought most of the South Island between 1848 and 1864.

In both cases, $170m equated to a fraction of the commercial value of the land that was unjustly taken. Both iwi have launched highly successful business ventures with the money, each estimated to now be worth more than $1b.

Significant recent settlements include Tūhoe ($168m), Ngāti Porou ($90m) and Te Atiawa ($87m).

Despite successive Governments setting ambitious deadlines for the full and final settlement of all claims, the process continues with an estimated 53 iwi still to settle, 47 of these are in formal negotiations with the Crown.

Ngāpuhi, the large iwi of Northland, is one group that has been unable to pass the first hurdle of getting an undisputed mandate to negotiate on behalf of its people.

The last National-led Government made particularly strong progress settling claims. Fifty-one claims were settled between 2008 and 2017. Negotiations for many of these were started under the previous Labour-led Government.

In addition to financial redress, many iwi have had parcels of culturally significant land returned to them by the Crown, such as pa sites, burial grounds and other sacred sites.

Comments have been closed.