A time for healing on historic day

The 150th anniversary of the start of the Land Wars in Taranaki will be marked with an historic agreement between the Crown and two Taranaki iwi today.

Prime Minister John Key will be at Owae Marae in Waitara to formally begin the Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiation process with Te Atiawa iwi leaders, in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation.

Later, the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson will head to Puniho Pa where a second agreement will be signed with the Taranaki iwi.

Other senior politicians and dignitaries in Taranaki today include Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand, Maori Party co-leaders Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia, and Georgina te Heu Heu.

The agreements being signed are terms of negotiation, laying the ground rules and processes for future settlement negotiations.

Yesterday, Te Atiawa Iwi Authority chairwoman Wikitoria Keenan told the Taranaki Daily News the day represented a major step forward.

"It's been on the agenda for a long, long time so to get to this stage is really exciting," she said.

More than a decade has passed since Te Atiawa was offered a $34 million settlement, an agreement which has long since slipped by the wayside.

"This is a new negotiation and a new era," Ms Keenan said.

New Plymouth MP Jonathan Young, who will be a signatory to today's agreement, said the occasion was one of the most significant he had been involved in since becoming MP.

"I've been making sure New Plymouth is on the map for my Cabinet colleagues but this is something more pervasive, it has historical implications for all New Zealanders.

"I think John Key's presence in New Plymouth tomorrow is a measure of the significance of the event."

Once today's agreements are signed, actual negotiation can begin.

A Treaty settlement is usually made up of three elements: An historical acknowledgement and Crown apology, and cultural and financial redress.

These details will be hammered out in the coming months between Te Atiawa and the Office of Treaty Settlements.

Ms Keenan said Te Atiawa would be putting together a claims team and a negotiator to work on the settlement.

"There's still a lot of work to do," she said.

At some point in the future, those negotiations are likely to involve New Plymouth District Council owned leasehold land in Waitara, an ongoing sore point and the subject of protracted legal wrangling between the council and the leaseholders.

But New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent said today's signing was between Crown and Te Atiawa and any discussion of what would be involved in their negotiations was a step further down the track.

"We made the decision a number of years ago to make that land available to the Crown for the settlement process, at market value," he said.

"This is a significant step forward for settling with Te Atiawa but is not the settlement itself."

Tomorrow Mr Key heads to South Taranaki to open the Kupe gas field production station in Manaia, the TSB Hub sports complex in Hawera and the Traders and Whalers exhibition at Tawhiti Museum, near Hawera.

- © Fairfax NZ News