payment takes iwi total to $390 million
The latest $101.5 million Waikato-Tainui Treaty of Waitangi settlement relativity payment announced Friday takes to $390 million the total the iwi has gained including its original $170 million in 1995.
Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.
The relativity payments – pushed by the tribe’s principal negotiator the late Sir Robert Mahuta – were designed to ensure the iwi wasn’t penalised by being a first-mover on settlements and to protect it against future Government rule changes.
The Waikato 1995 Raupatu Settlement was negotiated at a time of the “fiscal envelope” concept – the idea that all historical Treaty settlements would be settled within a budgeted figure of $1 billion, updated for inflation.
The original $170 million for Waikato-Tainui was 17% of the $1 billion. But the iwi (and the South Island’s Ngāi Tahu) ensured that if that cap was breached in 1994 present value dollars they would get relativity payments to ensure their share of the total stayed the same.
Link to article: Latest Waikato-Tainui Treaty settlement payment takes iwi total to $390 million | Stuff.co.nz
