Bastion Pt stance reconsidered

Press, 1 June 1988, Page 1

Bastion Pt stance reconsidered

By JANE ENGLAND, Maori affairs reporter The Government was deliberating oyer its decision on the Orakei, Bastion Point, land claim because of a proposed change of tack introduced in Cabinet discussions on Monday, a well informed source told “The Press” yesterday. The Government had planned to announce a decision on Monday which took a conservative line on the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendation on the claim, the source said. But it was now reconsidering that stance because an alternative course of action closer to the tribunal’s recommendation had been proposed during Cabi-

net discussions, he said. The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere, declined to comment on that assertion yesterday. They confirmed that Cabinet discussions had taken place and that a decision on the recommendation was still being considered. Other Maori sources involved in land claims before the tribunal said the Treasury had been playing a part in the debate. The Prime Minister’s press secretary, Mr Mike Wicksteed, said the Cabinet faced a difficult decision in determining whether to abide by the tribunal’s recommendation.

“No matter what decision is made it will not please everyone,” he said. The -tribunal, in its recommendation in November last year, said that the Ngati Whatua tribe should be given a $3 million minimum cash contribution and remission of a §200,G00 debt for urgent housing and other projects. It also recommended that the tribe be given the Okahu Park and headlands of Bastion Point However, the public would retain access to the 67 'hectares of parks and reserves which would be administered by the Orakei Maori Trust Board and the Auckland City Council.

The tribunal said the Orakei marae, church and cemetery should be returned to the tribe and the powers of its board extended to enable it to buy, borrow or lease land. The tribunal found that there was no legitimate basis for the Crown’s acquisitions in Orakei. A tribesman involved in making the tribe’s claim to the tribunal, Professor . Hugh Kawharu, yesterday said that a meeting of tribal beneficiaries had been held to discuss the recommendation. The tribe’s response to the recommendation had been favourable at the meeting. However, the meeting had been attended by only 100 people.

“I hope that the Government would put any decision on the recommendation and how that decision should be implemented by the tribe in writing so that it can be fully discussed by the tribe,” he said. The tribe was not concerned about the length of time the Government was taking to make a decision. “We have been kept in the dark for 150 years now, and so a week or two more will not faze me,” he said. “If there is a hiccup right now we can only assume that everyone will get over it and we will have our decision before Christmas.”