Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) to the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: Does he agree with the Prime Minister’s comment reported by Tāmati Kruger that Tūhoe ownership of Te Urewera National Park was “complex but workable”?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) : The Prime Minister does not recall making that statement and I am not going to speculate on this issue on the basis of hearsay.
Hon Maryan Street: Who decided to abandon that line of negotiation, if it were one, the day before the paper was expected by Tūhoe to go to Cabinet: the Prime Minister, Steven Joyce, or the Minister himself?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: The Prime Minister has explained the sequence of events and the circumstances giving rise to the paper being withdrawn from Cabinet. It is actually quite offensive to make that kind of comment about Mr Joyce, who is a very good Cabinet Minister.
Hon Maryan Street: Should we assume the Cabinet decision was influenced by focus groups conducted on the North Shore during the week or weekend prior to the paper going to Cabinet, as reported by the Whakatane Beacon today?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: My advice to the honourable member is not to rely on tittle-tattle in local rags. I think the important thing is that this Government is committed to a—[Interruption] They do not want the answer. This Government is committed to a just and durable settlement with Tūhoe that serves the interests of both parties, and we are determined to achieve that.
Hone Harawira: What feedback has he received from other iwi about whether the Prime Minister’s recent Tūhoe outburst has had any effect on their ability to negotiate their own Treaty settlements?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: The feedback I have received is the feedback I always receive: iwi are keen to settle just and durable settlements with the Crown and they are very pleased that this Government has applied additional resources to the task and is enthusiastic about getting on with the job, in comparison with the previous administration, which achieved 1.6 settlements per year.
Hon Maryan Street: Given the disquiet that a number of iwi leaders have expressed about the collapse of the negotiation with Tūhoe, does the Minister expect to use focus groups to determine negotiating parameters in Treaty settlements in the future, or does he intend to take a more principled position in negotiations?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: No. We are getting on with something that the member’s Government singularly failed to do, which is to get just and durable settlements. The evidence for that—[Interruption] They do not like the truth. The evidence for that is that in the first 8 months of this year we are running at 133 percent of target when it comes to achieving agreements in principle.
Rahui Katene: What is the precedent for the use of reversionary interest within a settlement, as suggested in this morning’s New Zealand Herald as a possible mechanism for the Tūhoe settlement?
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: I have an idea that the New Zealand Herald could have been referring to a similar sort of reversionary arrangement in the Ngāti Ruanui settlement over the Mākino Scenic Reserve, but I do not know the detail of that arrangement, because I was not involved in that settlement. It was one of those very rare occasions when the other lot actually did a settlement.
