Crown-owned property can be part of a financial and commercial redress package, depending on the suitability of the property in the area relevant to the claimant group. But McEnteer said it became clear that wasn’t going to be a possibility for Pouarua, so the purchase price of the farm was deducted from the financial redress the five iwi were to receive. Effectively it meant the group used the settlement money to buy the same property taken from them 100 years ago. That was when the Crown used the Public Works Act and the Land Drainage Act to acquire the Hauraki land in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Auckland iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei are exhibiting a united front against cross-claims about policy settlements by the Crown.
About 300 Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi members marched from Ōrākei Marae to the Auckland High Court on 9 February, 2021.
Photo: RNZ / Te Aorewa Rolleston
This is in response to overlapping treaty redresses which have left some iwi battling against one another.
Before sunrise this morning, about 300 Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi members departed Ōrākei Marae on a 7km hīkoi to the Auckland High Court.
Iwi members marched along Tamaki Drive along the Auckland waterfront, waving flags, chanting haka and singing waiata.