LETTERS Settling issues

I read with interest your article on Maori governance in the August issue of The Director. Overall, it was interesting and informative, mentioning number of times Treaty settlement assets and the resulting governance challenges. It is shame that the article does not refer in any depth to how the settlement process addresses those challenges. I will outline this briefly for the benefit of your readers.
The Crown has no wish to determine the type of post-settlement governance entity chosen by claimant group. However, the Crown does have obligations to ensure the settlement assets are managed by and for those who will rightfully benefit from the settlement of their claims.
Accordingly, prior to the transfer of the settlement package to the claimant group, the Crown will assess whether its proposed governance entity has structure that is representative, accountable and transparent. The governance entity will need to be ratified by the claimant community. Usually it takes the form of private trust, in which case settlement legislation is used to remove the legal time limit on the trust’s existence.
Further information about post-settlement governance is available on the Office of Treaty Settlement’s website www.ots.govt.nz and in our publication Healing the past, building future, available for download on that site.
Your article also contains misunderstanding about the relationship between the number of outstanding Waitangi Tribunal claims and the future of Maori organisations in the economy. Any Maori can lodge claim with the Waitangi Tribunal. Claims can differ widely both in terms of the range of Crown actions they relate to and on whose behalf they are made (ranging from claims made by individuals to claims made on tribal basis). However, negotiated settlement will cover all the historical claims of large natural group such as iwi. The number of future post-settlement governance entities therefore depends on how iwi and hapu group themselves together for negotiations, not the number of individual claims.
Andrew Hampton, director
Office of Treaty Settlements