Treaty settlement process

Before your community can seek a mandate it needs to be part of a Large Natural Group.

The Ngāpuhi version of this is a hapū grouping.

Your Large Natural Group will draft and implement a mandate strategy.

If your community votes in accordance with your tikanga to support the proposed mandate, a Deed of Mandate is prepared to confirm who you have chosen to represent you in negotiations with the Crown. The Crown will seek public submissions on the draft Deed of Mandate and decide whether to recognise the mandate.

If the mandate is recognised by the Crown, the Crown and the mandated entity work together to agree and sign terms of negotiation.

First, the Crown shares a list of properties it holds in the area that could be discussed as potential redress then your claimant community presents its grievances and redress aspirations to the Crown.

Redress options are explored. They are meant to be broad and could include things like asset ownership, protection of wāhi tapu, joint management arrangements and restoration of traditional place names.

Negotiators will meet regularly with the Crown to negotiate and develop a redress package.

Once the package is agreed by Cabinet, the Crown will present a formal redress offer to your mandated entity. 

If the offer is accepted, both parties will sign an Agreement in Principle – a non-binding agreement outlining the nature and scope of redress agreed.

A Deed of Settlement is drafted to outline the details of the proposed redress package and how it will be provided.

Alongside this, settlement legislation is drafted for aspects of redress that need legislation to be given effect.

Once the Deed of Settlement is initialled by the mandated representatives and the Crown, the claimant community will vote on whether they support the proposed settlement and the entity that seeks to hold it on their behalf.

If there is support, the deed is signed which binds both parties to the settlement. If it is not supported, the deed is not signed and the Crown and the mandated entity discuss next steps.

Settlement legislation enters a Parliamentary process, where it will be scrutinised by a Select Committee and will need to pass three readings and receive Royal Assent before being enacted.

The settlement legislation implements aspects of the Deed of Settlement that require legislation, and comprehensively settles the claimant community’s historical Wai claims.

The time required to pass a Bill depends on the Parliamentary schedule.

Once settlement legislation is passed by Parliament, the aspects of redress that require legislation will be vested in a Post-Settlement Governance Entity that your community has agreed to manage settlement redress. Every member of the claimant community will be a beneficiary of the Post-Settlement Governance Entity.