Way back in 1839, the New Zealand Company bought the area that is now Nelson from local iwi and hapu. As part of the deal, they promised that Māori would retain their homes, fields, and burial grounds, and that in addition, 10% of the land in the planned township and surroundings would be set aside for them. The New Zealand state inherited this deal, and proceeded to break it systematically, refusing to allocate the land promised, and stealing that which had already been allocated. In 2017 the Supreme Court ruled that the state must honour the deal, and last year the High Court found that the state must return land and pay compensation. And after a year of negotiations, they've finally done it:
In Wellington on Wednesday, Attorney-General Judith Collins and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced that an agreement had been reached.Which is pretty cheap for 180 years of back-rent and interest. There's also the quirk that a lot of the land being returned is coastal, while the regime, though its climate change policies, is ensuring that it will be flooded. Which seems like they're undermining the settlement even before it was signed. But that's the "honour" of the New Zealand state, I guess.Under the agreement, 3068 hectares will be returned to descendants of the original owners, including the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve and the Abel Tasman Great Walk.
The agreement also includes a $420 million compensation payment to recognise land that has been sold by the Crown since 1839 and in recognition of the lost earnings and land use.
