30 January 2024
Tim Herewini
By email: [FYI request #25458 email]
Tēnā koe
Official Information Act request re Whakatōhea
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA) on 21 January 2024
for information held by Te Arawhiti – the Office for Māori Crown Relations. You have requested
all information held by Te Arawhiti in the date range 18 August 2017 to 21 January 2024
touching on Te Whakatōhea that is not available on Te Arawhiti’s website.
Our initial scoping shows the request includes more than 40,000 documents, much of which is
either technical or administrative in nature. I note that the Whakatōhea settlement negotiations
have been subject to two Waitangi Tribunal inquiries, a further urgency application in the
Waitangi Tribunal, as well as High Court litigation. As such, many documents that fall within
scope of your request have already been released either as part of discovery or under the OIA
and are already in the public domain. This includes material related to:
a. the development and recognition of the mandate;
b. ministerial decisions to resume negotiations following the 2018 vote;
c. the mandate amendment mechanism;
d. the 2021 mandate amendment process;
e. the ratification process; and
f. the decision to sign the deed of settlement.
Documents used in evidence in these inquiries can be found on the Waitangi Tribunal website
inquiry search func
tion (Waitangi Tribunal (justice.govt.nz)) by searching through Wai numbers
2662, 2961 and 3272. Te Arawhiti can also provide you with previously released material directly,
should you wish.
Notwithstanding the previously released information, the scope of your request remains
extremely broad. Responding to your request as it currently stands would require substantial
collation and as a result the request is likely to be declined under s18(f) of the OIA if it is not
amended. I therefore invite you to refine your request to specify information you are looking for,
and/or focus on a narrower date range.
Please direct your refined request to Liam Kennedy, Senior Analyst, at
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Maureen Hickey
Regional Director, Te Tira Kahukura
