Mana leader Hone Harawira expects Te Urewera land will eventually come back to Ngai Tuhoe, despite a treaty settlement saying that no one owns the land.
The Tuhoe Settlement Bill sent to a select committee this week will create the new legal identity for Te Urewera and establish a governance , comprising Crown and Tuhoe representatives, to oversee the national park.
He says the new legal identity can't work, and it's a smokescreen that Tuhoe should ignore.
"That land will eventually come back to Tuhoe, regardless of what other people say, for the simple reason that if they are positive in the way in which they share in the management regime, ultimately the land will be back in their hands," Mr Harawira says.
He says Tuhoe has been extremely generous in accepting a minimal settlement, despite having put up with more than a century of appalling behaviour by the Crown.
To read the original Waatea News article visit here.
