Matua Kahurangi: Te Urewera mismanagement.....

Te Urewera mismanagement: Tūhoe leadership failing the land and its people

For years, the Urewera’s have been celebrated as a showcase of iwi stewardship and environmental guardianship. But the reality is far bleaker. Tūhoe leadership is presiding over mismanagement, neglect, and a shocking lack of accountability, turning what should be a model of co-governance into a cautionary tale of waste and incompetence.

Mike Butler: Iwi leaders feeling heat?

A comprehensive rant from a spokesman for the National Iwi Chairs Forum is a rare display of a privileged and powerful elite apparently feeling the heat of public criticism.

In a piece titled “Co-governance is good for us”, published in E-Tangata on August 27, 2023, Te Huia Bill Hamilton tries to counter Julian Batchelor’s Stop Co-Governance campaign. (1)

Hamilton, who declares that his ancestry is “Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Raukawa, Nga Rauru, Scotland”, is described as “a Treaty of Waitangi and human rights specialist and a lead adviser for the National Iwi Chairs Forum, who has spent 25 years educating Pakeha and tauiwi about Te Tiriti through his company Treaty Solutions”.

Thomas Cranmer: Tūhoe ~ co-governance is not our word

Recently obtained board minutes from Te Urewera reveal a troubled relationship between the Board and Crown, a Board that rejects the term 'co-governance' and is wary of the court of public opinion.

Last week Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson admitted that the ship had sailed on explaining co-governance to the public, which is why he conceded that it needs to be reframed in a way it can be understood.

Jackson believes that he’s worked out the two areas the Government has gone wrong with explaining co-governance.

Graeme Reeves: Tuna and Te Urewera Board

Tuna and Te Urewera Board (TUB), Trustees of Tuhoe (TUT) and Director-General of Conservation (DOC) - TUNA v TE UREWERA BOARD [2022] NZHC 2924 [8 November 2022] – Application for judicial review.

The applicant in this matter was Mr Tuna a resident of the Urewera.  Mr Tuna objected to the hasty destruction by fire of the network of huts throughout the Urewera by TUT the operational arm of TUB.

Mr Tuna asked the Court to grant an interim order requiring TUT to,” immediately cease its programme of destruction of listed huts pending final disposition of this proceeding.”

He was successful.  I congratulate him for having the courage to bring this proceeding on behalf of all New Zealanders.

The case, even at this early stage not knowing what the ultimate outcome might be raises some interesting issues worthy, in my opinion, of discussion.

Mike Butler: Hut burning and tribal control

A purge of colonial buildings in the Urewera park which shows that tribal co-governors act like wolves in sheep’s clothing came to an immediate halt today courtesy of the High Court.

The ruling comes after applicant Wharenui Clyde Tuna sought to halt what he described as “the hasty destruction by fire of the hut network throughout Te Urewera”.1

“Between the burning down of the Kanohirua hut at the end of October 2022, the applicant believes between 15 and 20 huts have been burnt down by employees or contractors of the second respondent [Trustees of Tūhoe – Te Uru Taumatua],” the judgement said.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The unfolding Tuhoe case is an example of why co-governance doesn't work

If you’re interested in the emerging co-governance debate, here’s a tip: Keep an eye on what’s going on with Tuhoe and the DOC huts and the area formerly known as Te Urewera National Park.

I think this is becoming the most of obvious example of why co-governance doesn’t work. 

Quick recap: back in 2014 Chris Finlayson reached a treaty settlement with Tuhoe, and part of that allowed the iwi to govern Te Urewera National Park with DOC.

Mike Butler: Tuhoe, co-governance, colonial purge

A visitor centre near Lake Waikaremoana, designed by the luminary Maori architect John Scott as a connection with the spirit of Urewera, is being demolished as part of a “colonial purge”, according to a report in the Hawke’s Bay Today newspaper.(1)

Havelock North architect Pierre du Toit said that the decision to demolish “was backed by Tuhoe in a bid to rid the Urewera National Park of colonial influence”.

Lindsay Mitchell: Paying out benefit-liability $ to Tuhoe

MSD has released a commissioned report about decentralising welfare to Tuhoe.

"Tūhoe is a relatively young population with high levels of unemployment, welfare dependency and low incomes....

In 2011 the Crown entered into a relationship agreement with Tūhoe in which it acknowledged the mana motuhake of Tūhoe and its aspirations to self-govern. Tūhoe have their  aspirations to become independent of the Government, generate its own revenue and become self-sustaining. MSD has asked whether or not it is feasible to transfer a portion of the Crown’s liability to Tūhoe."

Mike Butler: Nursing a grudge Tuhoe style

A claim that Crown soldiers threw Tuhoe children into the air and impaled them on bayonets, reported yesterday, offers a glimpse of how Tuhoe have nursed a grudge and how the facts don’t back their beliefs.

Kaumatua Taane Rakuraku “remembered” this story for the benefit of reporter Michael Fox of Stuff news as the Crown prepared to apologise for land confiscations, indiscriminate killings, including of women and children, and scorched-earth warfare. (1)

Mike Butler: Tuhoe deal just? You decide

Were Tuhoe innocent victims of crafty colonisers or did their 19th century leaders make a series of bad choices that exposed their people to the sharp edge of the British Empire? This article compares some Office of Treaty Settlements rhetoric that alleges “Crown behaviour made a harmonious relationship with Tuhoe impossible” with historical fact.

Mike Butler: Moon twists Urewera history again

Historian Paul Moon’s claims on TV3’s Third Degree show on Wednesday and in his New Zealand Herald column “The past must be remembered for us all” on Friday, that Tuhoe underwent “ethnic cleansing”, fails to remember key facts of our history. When questioned by Guyon Espiner for the Third Degree current affairs show about Tuhoe history, Moon said:

Mike Butler: $170m Tuhoe deal looks like a U-turn

An agreement to pay Ngai Tuhoe $170-million to end their complaints has no mention of a lump sum payment of £100,000 made in 1958. The transfer of the Urewera National Park out of Crown ownership into a co-governance entity looks like a U-turn after Prime Minister John Key had already ruled out giving the National Park to Tuhoe.

The Dominion Post thought the deal heralded a brighter path while noting that if hunters and trampers found access impeded or fees charged, and if there is any hint that the state has connived in creating a slush fund through handing over delivery of social services to tribal providers, the government of the day and Tuhoe will feel a backlash. (1)

Mike Butler: Summoning ghosts from the past as Tuhoe negotiator talks up Urewera self-governance

Tuhoe's lead negotiator is talking up his tribe's chances of a settlement including self-government of Te Urewera National Park and Lake Waikaremoana as early as next year, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald last Saturday, October 1, 2011.

Tuhoe, with 19 other tribes, are in the negotiations stage of their bid to win a treaty settlement. According to an explanation on the Office of Treaty Settlements website, these claimant groups have signed terms of negotiation and are negotiating with the Crown the basic elements of a settlement such as the nature of the historical account and cultural and commercial redress. The culmination of this stage is the signing of an agreement in principle, which will include a proposed financial quantum of the settlement. Tuhoe's lead negotiator Tamati Kruger apparently wants to garner extra support by putting his case to the mainstream media.