10 May 2005

The Waitangi Tribunal has released its decision on a claim lodged by the Waimumu Land Trust who administers 4440 hectares of indigenous forested land in central South Island, granted under the South Island Landless Natives Act 1906 (SILNA).

In hearing this urgent claim, the Tribunal have not made findings on matters which relate to other SILNA claims. This inquiry was not a full hearing of all SILNA issues. The Tribunals findings relate to the Wai 1090 claim alone. The Waimumu report records the Tribunals preliminary views on key issues, for the guidance of claimants and the Crown in any further discussions. The Tribnunal was satisfied that sufficient evidence was available for them to reach a sound preliminary conclusion, and that this would be of assistance to the parties.

The main focus of the inquiry was the claim that the Forests Amendment Act 2004 had removed the power of the claimants to export unsustainably logged timber. The Act did not provide for appropriate compensation. The Trust had wanted to export logs.

In the 1990's the Crowns initial negotiations had created an expectation of compensation for not logging the native timber, through a negotiated settlement. The Tribunal found that "this expectation was further entrenched by the Waitutu and Rakiura settlements, where owners of forests of high conservation value received compensation calculated on the basis of timber prices".

The Tribunal went of further to say that "the Crowns change of policy, in which it no longer recognised SILNA grants as a special case, led to the imposition of the Nature Heritage Fund and its system of protecting forests for conservation purposes, according to their conservation values. Forest belonging to the claimants, with low conservation value, would receive compensation later in the piece and from a fixed, relatively small sum. The policy change involved the end of a negotiation approach, and the imposition of the alternative Natural Heritage Fund process. This was done without the consent of the other parties to the SILNA negotiations".

The claimants argued that sustainable logging was uneconomic and would in any case only yield them $1.66 million. Unsustainable logging over five years would have earned $25.25 million (a difference of $23.59 million). The Tribunal did not consider this part of the claim to be well founded. The valuations were unsatisfactory, and there does not appear to be an export market for the Waimumu Trusts timber in any case. The Tribunal found that there has been no breach of the principles of the Treaty, and no prejudice to the claimants, arising from this part of the Forests Amendment Act 2004.

The Tribunal think that the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by:

• Abandoning negotiations for compensation without the concurrence of the Waimumu Trust; and
• Imposing the Natural Heritage Fund as the only effective remedy, premised as it is on the low conservation value of the Trust's forest and the cessation of payments based on timber value.

BUT despite conlcuding that this could amount to a Treaty breach, the Tribunal found that the claimants have not yet suffered any prejudice. The option of applying to the NHF is still open to them. The Tribunal suggests that the Crown take advantage of this opportunity to review the basis of the NHF payments and ensure a fair outcome for the Waimumu Trust.

The owners of the Block have called for an urgent meeting with the Government.

See the Waitangi Tribunal Website for The Waimumu Trust (SILNA) Report