Fears for Māori land gr... - Financial Unions

There are fears plans to make it easier for the Government to acquire private property for infrastructure projects will further alienate Māori land.

It comes after 1News exclusively revealed the Public Works Act was in for an overhaul.

"The danger for Māori land is that there's very little left in Aotearoa," associate law professor Linda Te Aho said.

"Only roughly five per cent of the land mass in the whole of Aotearoa remains in Māori land title."

The Act allows Government agencies to acquire private land to build roads and other infrastructure.

It was used during the construction of the Kapiti Expressway a decade ago, which nearly forced Māori writer Patricia Grace to sell up a section of her whenua.

"I was notified by letter and I think I was offered a price for the land," she said.

"I thought, well, it has come, I'm not saying yes to anything."

She managed to stop it by applying for a special land status through the Māori Land Court.

"What we decided was that we would change the status of our land to a Māori Reservation because it meant that the land would become inalienable, even to the Crown," she said.

But there's concern safeguards like this could be removed under the Government's review.

The Act's been around since the 1860s and was one of many laws that left Māori virtually landless by the end of the century.

"For us in the Waikato, we've had raupatu confiscations, which took place under the New Zealand Settlements Act, and we've had early native land legislation which was another major contribution to landloss," Te Aho said.

"But often underrated is the impact of the Public Works Act on our whenua, but also on our river. I recall an ammendment which declared our streams and tributaries as public drains."

The Act was last significantly amended in the 1980s.

Green MP Huhana Lyndon currently has a members bill before Parliament to prevent Māori land from being taken under the Act without consent.

"The city of Whangārei was built on top of us, we lost of a lot of land for railways," she said.

"Knowing that we have so little whenua Māori left, the ability for us to say yes or no is really important."

When asked if he would consider adopting the members bill as part of the reforms, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said he would take into account "a large number of different factors".

He also gave an assurance Treaty settlement obligations would continue to be honoured.

Te Aho said protecting Treaty settlements wasn't as simple as it sounded.

"We have settlements like the Waikato River Settlement, which provides for and protects 'te mana o te awa' (the mana of the river), so any of these developments that impact te mana o te awa also impact on the Treaty setlement," she said.

"Treaty settlements are very detailed and sophisticated. It's not enough to have a blanket statement regarding Treaty settlements, there has to be a lot of work done to ensure that really is the case."

She said there were also a number of areas in the country that didn't have Treaty settlements.

"What happens in those situations? What extra safeguards might there be to avoid further land loss?"

Grace has long been an advocate for the exemption of Māori land from the Public Works Act entirely.

"While the Waitangi Tribunal is trying to make up for the past stealing of land, the Public Works Act is doing the opposite, and making further inroads," she said.