Stages of Negotiation

7.0 Terms of Negotiation
Sets out the ground rules and objectives of negotiations between the Crown and Tapuika. The Terms of Negotiation are conditional upon the Tapuika Iwi Authority Trust obtaining a mandate from its people to be the authorized body to enter into negotiations with the Crown.

7.1 Deed of Mandate
The aim of this part of the process is for the claimant group to decide through mandating hui who has the authority to represent them in negotiations with the Crown.
Independent Observers present at mandating hui will provide a report to the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS) as to whether mandating hui had fair and transparent processes that provided Tapuika members with the opportunity to participate in the hui and;
that the information provided at the hui enabled Tapuika members to make informed decisions during the mandating process.
The Minister of Treaty Negotiations and Maori Affairs on the advice of their officials sign the Deed of Mandate:
The Deed of Mandate states who has the authority to represent the claimant group in negotiations with the Crown;

• describes how this mandate was obtained and how the negotiators are to be held accountable to their wider claimant community;
• defines the claimant group, the claim area and the claims that are intended to be settled.

Once a Deed of Mandate is signed then the mandated representatives are able to seek assistance from the Crown to contribute towards the costs of obtaining a mandate, agreeing Terms of Negotiations and starting formal negotiations.

7.2 Agreement in Principle
Once the broad outline of a settlement is agreed between Tapuika and the Crown, the parties mark this milestone by signing an Agreement in Principle noting the outline of a settlement. The Agreement in Principle records the basic outline of the proposed settlement between the Crown and Tapuika to settle all of Tapuika’s historical claims.

An Agreement in Principle is “without prejudice” and does not legally bind Tapuika or the Crown. It is also important that the Agreement in Principle is widely distributed among the members of Tapuika so that they have an awareness of what the likely final settlement may look like.

7.3 Deed of Settlement

A Deed of Settlement is the comprehensive and final agreement reached between the Crown and a claimant group. A Deed of Settlement sets out in detail the redress that the Crown will give to the Tapuika in order to settle their claims. The redress may include the Crown’s acknowledgements and apology, payment of cash, the transfer of lands within the claim area, and mechanisms for recognizing other important interests that Tapuika might have. The Deed includes:

• mutual acknowledgements about what is being settled i.e all historical claims
• a statement by Tapuika that the settlement is accepted as fair, final, and comprehensive, and
• an acknowledgement that once the claims are settled, the jurisdiction of the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal over the claims is removed, any memorials on former SOE properties are removed, and any landbank arrangements in relation to Tapuika are wound up.

7.4 Draft Deed of Settlement Initialled
Cabinet must approve the contents of the Draft deed. Once this is approved Tapuika mandated representatives and Cabinet initial the draft Deed prior to seeking approval for the deed from Tapuika members.

7.5 Ratification of the Deed of Settlement
Tapuika mandated representatives seek ratification (approval) of the Deed of Settlement from Tapuika members through postal ballot and hui. Once approval is given the Deed of Settlement is signed by the Crown and Tapuika representatives

7.6 Governance Entity
The term “governance entity” simply refers to the legal entity that will be used to hold and manage Tapuika’s settlement assets and exercise the forms of cultural redress provided in the settlement package. The proposed post settlement entity is a Common Law Trust.

Prior to the transfer of the settlement package to the claimant group, the Crown will assess whether the Common Law Trust as a proposed post settlement governance entity has a structure that

• adequately represents all members of the claimant group;
• has transparent decision-making and dispute resolution procedures;
• is fully accountable to the whole claimant group;
• ensures the beneficiaries of the settlement and the beneficiaries of the governance entity are identical when the settlement assets are transferred from the Crown to the claimant group; and
• has been ratified by Tapuika members

7.7 Legislation introduced
Settlement legislation is usually needed to implement a settlement. For example, legislation is needed to ensure the finality of the settlement by removing the ability of the courts and Waitangi Tribunal to re-open the historical claims or the Deed of Settlement. It may also be needed to vest land in the governance entity on behalf of the claimant group if normal administrative land transfer processes would not be appropriate.

Once the legislation to give effect to parts of the settlement has been introduced and referred to a Select Committee (usually the Maori Affairs Select Committee), any one who wishes to do so is able to make a submission to the Select Committee.

The Select Committee may investigate any aspect of the settlement, including the process by which it was arrived at. However, apart from purely technical changes, for example to ensure that the legislation properly reflects the Deed of Settlement, it must approve the legislation as a whole, or not at all.

Once the Select Committee has reported back to Parliament on the submissions, the Bill is then passed through its final stages and signed by the Governor-General. Once signed, the legislation then allows the settlement assets to be transferred to the governance entity on behalf of the claimant group and the group can begin to make use of the cultural redress provided in the settlement.