5 February 2002 Media Release

CFRT’S PURPOSE IS TO ASSIST MĀORI, NOT FUND THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL

It is wrong to suggest that the Crown Forestry Rental Trust was set up to fund the Waitangi Tribunal, and unhelpful to describe the two bodies as rivals.

The Chief Executive of the Trust, Karen Waterreus, says she is disappointed that, on the eve of Waitangi Day, one of the foremost commentators on Treaty history can overlook the history of the Trust in criticising its work.

Ms Waterreus was responding to recent comments from Prof Alan Ward, broadcast on Mana News. Prof Ward said the Waitangi Tribunal was given statutory responsibility for the Treaty process, but he believed the failure of the Office of Treaty Settlements, the Crown Law Office and the “rival authority” of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust to pull together has undermined the Tribunal.

Karen Waterreus said the Trust was set up as a result of agreement between Māori and the Crown to settle a legal dispute over the sale of Crown Forestry Assets.

“The agreement allowed the Crown to sell the trees and lease the land, in return for speeding up the investigation and settlement of Māori claims to forestry land,” she said. “The government reaped three billion dollars from the sale of forestry assets. The Trust was set up to assist Māori with the preparation, presentation and negotiation of claims involving Crown Forest Licensed Land.” 

“The Trust was not set up to fund the Waitangi Tribunal. The Tribunal’s funding properly comes from the Government. The Trustees must be careful to operate within the law and the Trust Deed.

“However, as Professor Ward knows from his own consultancy work for the Tribunal, the Tribunal regularly approaches the Trust for assistance with research and other work that the Tribunal itself cannot fund. If Māori agree that Trust funding to the Tribunal would assist their claims, then the Trustees have discretion to help.

“The Trust and the Tribunal work collaboratively. We are not rivals, as Alan Ward says. But Māori have huge needs of their own, and direct assistance to Māori is the Trust’s priority.”

“The Trust supports Alan Ward’s call for a review of the whole process of settling claims, beginning with the outcomes sought by Māori and the Crown, and the principles of the Treaty relationship between them. The Trust’s whole approach is to encourage claimants to focus on what outcomes they want for themselves, instead of constantly struggling to meet the demands of a settlement process designed and built by the Crown.

“Alan Ward believes the Tribunal should have more control over the settlement process. The Trust believes it is Māori who need most support, so they can engage with the Crown as Treaty partners. Our purpose is to assist Māori.

“We think the ‘new approach’ adopted by Chief Judge Joe Williams, aiming to encourage claimants to cluster together for strength, is heading in the right direction. Māori have similar goals, and the Trust is assisting them.

“Co-operation between the Trust and the Tribunal is growing, with immediate benefits for claimants. We agree that political point-scoring doesn’t help settle claims. We also think Alan Ward’s remarks are most unhelpful,” said Ms Waterreus.