Ko te mana raihana kāore nei he oranga - Re-igniting the conversation for legislative change

The time is right to continue the kōrero about the legislation that lays down the rules about how corpus whenua is valued and rent amounts set, according to Richard Buttimore, Te Rau Whakahono Pito / General Manager Property.

“The last time a review of the Māori Reserved Land Act was carried out, it was on the back of years of lobbying by Shareholders and a petition being presented to Parliament. It took seven years before any amendments were brought into law in 1998,” says Richard. “The legislation is no longer fit for purpose, so we need to start looking at what those conversations might look like, who they might be with and what we are striving to achieve.”

He cautions against any expectation that legislative changes could happen quickly and emphasises that there is a lot to consider when it comes to identifying where the Act is not fit for purpose, and what needs to be done to make the process of deciding rent values and resuming corpus whenua more equitable.

The NZ Settlements Act of 1863 provided for the confiscation of 500,000 hectares of Taranaki Māori land, and while only a portion was returned, the discriminatory legislation stipulated that it was to remain in a perpetual lease – effectively meaning that Māori could own the land but would need to acquire the leasehold interest in the land in order to occupy it.

In 1955 the Māori Reserved Land Act came into law, which was amended in 1998 to give the owners of Māori whenua governed by the Act the first right of refusal to purchase any leasehold interest that came up for sale and established that rent reviews should be carried out every seven years (instead of 21) and should be based on the fair value of the unimproved land.

“While the Amendment did go some way towards addressing the issues in the 1955 legislation, it was a watered-down version of the recommendations that had been made, with lots of grey areas,” explains Richard. “For our shareholders it was the first step, but it didn’t go far enough, and has made the process of deciding how the rent is determined complicated and polarising.”

“Ultimately, what we need is prescriptive legislation that clearly lays down a structured approach and delivers an equitable outcome in terms of rent methodology and purchasing capability.”

He says the process of carrying out the rent review every seven years (the last took place in 2017) is getting harder as the legislation ages.

“Without clear guidelines, the rent review process is becoming increasingly subjective, which means achieving a mutually agreed position is a fraught process.”

“There are so many more factors at play in that decision making process now – there have been so many changes in terms of legislation that farmers have to deal with, with regards to the environment, for example.”

“The first steps towards reigniting the calls from our tūpuna for achieving legislative change, is for the Incorporation to take a detailed look into what we feel needs to be addressed and how, before a case can be stated, eventually, before a Select Committee.”