Wai 85 Claim goes direct to the Supreme Court Tēnā koutou The Supreme Court heard our application on 1 October 2021, and WMI received advice on 11 October 2021 that the Supreme Court agreed to grant leave for our appeal to be heard directly by them instead of being heard by the Court of Appeal. Only in very rare circumstances is this leave granted and you have to be able to demonstrate the following: • it is in the interests of justice for the Supreme Court to hear and determine our appeal; and
In addition, we have filed with the Waitangi Tribunal an urgent contemporary claim, which states that the action by the Crown to settle Wai 85 is a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. This is a new claim number Wai 3508.
• there are exceptional circumstances that justify taking the proposed appeal directly to the Supreme Court.
Importantly, both applications, to the Waitangi Tribunal and the Supreme Court have been fully supported by the Pouàkani Claims Trust. This Trust represents the original owners of the Pouàkani lands.
We are waiting for confirmation of the hearing date for our case which we hope is due before Christmas.
WMI will provide a fuller update at this weekend’s Annual General Meeting and the Committee of Management will be available to answer any questions shareholders may have.
This action was required to be taken as the Minister for Treaty Negotiations intends to proceed to sign the Deed of Settlement with the Settlement Trust (which includes Wai 85) and introduce legislation into Parliament by the end of November 2021. The introduction of this legislation will bring all court actions on Wai 85 and the resumption application with the Waitangi Tribunal to an end.
We appreciate these are challenging times, so we encourage whànau to keep safe. For those unable to attend, the AGMs will be livestreamed and can be viewed at www.wairarapa.conference.maori.nz
Nàku noa, nà Kingi Winiata Smiler Chairman, Wairarapa Moana Incorporation 12 October 2021