Ownership of more than 7,500 acres of land across Nelson, Tasman and Golden Bay will be returned to the descendants of its original Māori owners following the resolution of a long-running private property case, the Government has announced.
Attorney-General Judith Collins and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka confirmed the Crown has reached an agreement with descendants of Te Tauihu Māori to restore legal ownership of approximately 3,068 hectares, alongside a $420 million payment.
The settlement stems from private litigation initiated in 2010 by kaumātua Rore Stafford, but traces back to agreements made in the 1840s during the New Zealand Company’s land purchases. At the time, the Crown committed to reserving a tenth of the land—around 15,100 acres—for the original owners and their descendants, a promise later found to have been breached.
In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled the Crown owed a legal duty to the descendants, with the High Court confirming last year that the land had always been held in trust and rightfully belonged to them.
Collins said the outcome is distinct from Treaty settlements, describing it as the return of land to its lawful owners rather than compensation for Treaty breaches.
Public access to major sites including the Abel Tasman Coast Track Great Walk and the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve will remain unchanged. A 25-year agreement has been put in place for the Great Walk, and existing bookings and tourism operations will continue as normal.
Mr Potaka said the Department of Conservation had worked closely with the owners to ensure continuity for visitors, communities and businesses. Land used for schools, roads and conservation will be leased back to the Crown, allowing services to continue uninterrupted.
This is never going to be over
Let’s all become maori, seems easy enough.
There are transfers available
ttorney-General Judith Collins and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka confirmed the Crown has reached an agreement with descendants of Te Tauihu Māori to restore legal ownership of approximately 3,068 hectares, alongside a $420 million payment.
“alongside a $420 million payment” – tax free of course not to mention the hundreds of millions in cheaty top ups every year – all tax free -funny that!
What a joke – wonder of collins will try to restrict access by forcing people to use QR codes -for convenience and palantir recording of course.
Think this is a joke – wake up and think again – your medical records are already in the palantir “system” soon to be “enhanced by your bank information!
Yep – get the next “vaccine” or no money for food – as collins says – “very convenient!” AND YOU ARE NOT DEAD YET!
Next will likely be adding cyanide to flour – just like wef puppet verrall’s folic acid fortifying flour to increase folate uptake of course!
Fact – Folate is a natural substance and cannot be patented!
Folic acid is a synthetic patented chemical that does not mimic folate – in fact it interferes with folate uptake and metabolism plus being synthetic some pos chemical company is making zillions out of it.
BUT – adding cyanide to flour has got to be good for you – why???? well it is low fat so must be good for you
Fools!!!!!
gorse farm on the way
whilst they spend the millions then demand more – very likely collins has agreed to more every year.
Bill English on NZ’s Economic Future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPSN8UAFIro
“At the time, the Crown committed to reserving a tenth of the land—around 15,100 acres—for the original owners and their descendants, a promise later found to have been breached”?.
Was this “promise” in writing and on record for us to look up and confirm, or was it a passed down Chinese whispers promise that no one can verify.
25 years of agreed access…and then? Like the many beach access points blocked with stone-age barbed wire?
How many machetes and muskets were traded back then to subdue the next whanau/tribe/savages?
Offals giving away what is not theirs but ours, Godzone, to appease more indigenous votes is treason to ALL the people of New Zealand.
Oh, OK… Soon enough to become one of the biggest gorse plantations ever then….
Carry on… Next….
Is it concerning that the Attorney-General does not know the difference between the Crowns radical title and sovereignty? The British Crown holds radical title (or underlying title) to all Torrens system legal titles that were brought into legal existence via the Native Titles Act 1870. This legal concept serves as the basis for the Crown to grant land titles, but it does not extinguish existing Indigenous Whenua possession. The “approximately 3,068 hectares” that have been “returned” having no physical existence because they are paper titles that have no relevance to the Whenua that remains the undisturbed possession of Te Tauihu Māori. The value of these legal titles is surprisingly high at $136,897.00 per hectare!