On 29 June 2011, the Crown recognised the mandate of the Ngāti Paoa Trust Board, to be represented by two negotiators, to negotiate a comprehensive settlement of the historical te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi claims of Ngāti Paoa with the Crown.

The mandated negotiators and the Crown entered into an Agreement in Principle Equivalent on 22 July 2011. The Ngāti Paoa governance entity, the Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust, was ratified in August and September 2013.

On 18 August 2017, Ngāti Paoa and the Crown initialled a Deed of Settlement (the Deed). From January to March 2020, the Deed was ratified by the members of Ngāti Paoa. The Deed is conditional on the enactment of Treaty settlement legislation. On settlement, the trustees of the Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust will manage the settlement assets.

The Office for Māori Crown Relations — Te Arawhiti (formerly the Office of Treaty Settlements), with the support of the Department of Conservation, Land Information New Zealand and other government agencies, represented the Crown in day-to-day negotiations.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Hon Andrew Little, and his predecessor, Hon Christopher Finlayson, represented the Crown in high-level negotiations.

In 1840, a number of rangatira of Ngāti Paoa signed te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi in Tāmaki and the Coromandel. After Auckland was established as the capital in 1841 Ngāti Paoa supplied the settlement with produce.

In 1841, the Crown purchased 6,000 acres at Kohimarama and 220,000 acres at Mahurangi and Omaha from Ngāti Paoa and other iwi. No reserves were made in these lands. In the 1840s and 1850s the Crown retained approximately 90,000 acres of land in which Ngāti Paoa had interests as surplus from pre-Treaty transactions and pre-emption waiver transactions. This included approximately 78,000 acres in south Tāmaki which had been purchased by a missionary in 1836 and 1837.

In July 1863, the Crown invaded the Waikato when its forces crossed the Mangatāwhiri. Some Ngāti Paoa rangatira expressed their loyalty to the Crown. Other Ngāti Paoa resisted the occupation of their lands. In October 1863 the HMS Miranda shelled the Ngāti Paoa village Pūkorokoro, and in December a Crown militia made a surprise attack on a group of 40 to 50 Māori, including some Ngāti Paoa, near Paparata in East Wairoa.

In December 1864, the Crown proclaimed confiscation blocks in Waikato and Pokeno, and in East Wairoa in January 1865. Ngāti Paoa had interests in the 51,000 acre East Wairoa confiscation block and in the Central Waikato confiscation district which included Maramarua and Pūkorokoro. The confiscated lands included Kohukohunui and Rataroa, Ngāti Paoa’s sacred maunga. No land was returned to Ngāti Paoa in the East Wairoa confiscation block.

Between April and June 1864, the Crown conducted military operations against Māori in Tauranga Moana. After the conflict ended, the Crown proclaimed a confiscation district of 214,000 acres, and in 1868 a further 76,000 acres were added to this district. Ngāti Paoa had interests in lands which were included in the confiscation district.

In 1865, the Crown promoted legislation which introduced the Native Land Laws, under which title to much Māori land was individualised. The individualisation of title made Ngāti Pāoa lands more susceptible to alienation. Much of Ngāti Paoa’s land on Waiheke and on the Wharekawa Coast was sold to private purchasers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Crown purchasing activity from the 1870s also led to the alienation of much of Ngāti Paoa’s land, including 45,000 acres at Piako.

Over the course of the twentieth century almost all of Ngāti Paoa’s remaining land was alienated to private purchasers and the Crown. Some land was taken under the Public Works Act. These public works takings sometimes resulted in the destruction of pā and wāhi tapu. In 1908 the Crown authorised a project to drain and develop the Hauraki wetlands. Over the following decades the Crown altered the waterways, drained the wetlands and changed the course of the Waihou and Piako rivers.

By the end of the twentieth century only 27% of Ngāti Paoa spoke Te Reo Māori. The decline of Ngāti Paoa tribal structures and the loss of Te Reo Māori contributed to a loss of Ngāti Paoa mātauranga Māori. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Ngāti Paoa generally experienced poorer health, including lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality, than Pākehā. Ngāti Paoa also experienced higher unemployment than the general population, and a lower median annual income.

The cultural redress package for Ngāti Paoa intends to recognise the traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations of Ngāti Paoa with places and sites owned by the Crown within its area of interest.

Sites vested in Ngāti Paoa

The settlement will vest 12 sites of cultural significance in Ngāti Paoa:

• Hine-nui-o-te-paua (2 ha) as fee simple for a papakāinga
• Kaiaua School property (2 ha), subject to a lease back to the Ministry of Education
• Māwhitipana (1.9 ha) as a recreation reserve
• Omaru (40.6 ha) as a recreation reserve
• Paoa Ururoa (0.4 ha) as a historic reserve
• Paoa Ururua (1.6 ha) as a recreation reserve
• Paoa Whanake (2 ha) as a local purpose (marae) reserve
• Papakura Pā (1 ha) as a scientific reserve
• Pokai Wawahi Ika (2.3 ha) as a recreation reserve
• Tauwhare Koiora (1.3 ha), part as a recreation reserve and part as a historic reserve
• Te Iwi Rahirahi (0.6 ha) as a local purpose (esplanade) reserve, and
• Te Waero Awe Houkura (0.9 ha) as a recreation reserve, subject to a lease over the buildings to the Auckland Council.

Some of the properties will be included as part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

Sites to be vested in Ngati Paoa and vested back to the Crown

Two sites will be vested in the Ngāti Paoa governance entity which will vest them back seven days later to the Crown for the people of New Zealand. They are:

• Te Haupa Island Scenic Reserve, and
• Pūkorokoro / Miranda Taramaire Government Purpose Reserve Wildlife Management Area. 

This arrangement provides for recognition of the association Ngāti Paoa has with these sites. The sites will continue to be subject to reserve status and there will be no change to the management arrangements for the sites during and after the vesting and vest back.

Overlay classifications

An overlay classification acknowledges the traditional, cultural, spiritual and historical association of Ngāti Paoa with certain sites of significance. The declaration of an area as an overlay classification provides for the Crown to acknowledge iwi values in relation to that area. 

The settlement provides an overlay classification over Te Haupa Island Scenic Reserve and Pūkorokoro / Miranda Taramaire Government Purpose Reserve Wildlife Management Area.

Statutory Acknowledgements

A statutory acknowledgement recognises the association between Ngāti Paoa and a particular site or area and enhances the ability of the iwi to participate in specified resource management processes.

The Crown offers a statutory acknowledgement over the following areas:

• Kiripaka Wildlife Scenic Reserve
• Mangatawhiri Forest Conservation Area
• Matietie Historic Reserve
• Mutukaroa / Hamlin Hill
• Ngahue Reserve
• Paparimu Conservation Area
• Pūkorokoro / Miranda Scenic Reserve
• Pūkorokoro / Miranda Scientific Reserve
• Richard Sylvan Memorial Scenic Reserve
• Ruapotaka Reserve
• Te Matuku Bay Scenic Reserve
• Te Morehu Scenic Reserve, and
• Vining Scenic Reserve.

Crown protected area names

The settlement legislation will provide for the following Crown protected area name changes:

• Te Haupa (Saddle) Island Scenic Reserve to Te Haupa Island Scenic Reserve
• Miranda Taramaire Government Purpose Reserve Wildlife Management Area to Pūkorokoro / Miranda Taramaire Government Purpose Reserve Wildlife Management Area
• Miranda Scenic Reserve to Pūkorokoro / Miranda Scenic Reserve
• Miranda Scientific Reserve to Pūkorokoro / Miranda Scientific Reserve, and
• Tiritiri Matangi Island Scientific Reserve to Papakura Pā Scientific Reserve.

Placement of pou whenua

The Crown offers Ngāti Paoa the approval to fix or place a permanent pou whenua on Te Haupa Island Scenic Reserve and Papakura Pā to reflect Ngāti Paoa’s association with those areas.

Statements of Association

The Deed will acknowledge that Ngāti Paoa has associations with, and asserts certain spiritual, cultural, historical and traditional values in relation to:

• Area north of Takatū Point (Tāwharanui Peninsula) to Te Ārai o Tāhuhu
• Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana
• Kōpuatai Wetland Area
• Maungarei / Mount Wellington
• Maungauika
• Maungawhau / Mount Eden
• Moehau maunga
• Motuihe Island / Te Motu-a-Ihenga
• Motutapu Island
• Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond
• Rangitoto
• Takarunga / Mount Victoria, and
• Te Aroha maunga.

Ruamaahua

The Crown will consider the operation of the Grey-Faced Petrel (Northern Muttonbird) Notice 1979 as it applies to Ruamaahua regarding its alignment with the current tītī season. The Crown intends that any redress over Ruamaahua provided in a Treaty settlement will include Ngāti Paoa.

Protocols and relationship agreement

The Deed will provide for the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage and the Ministers for Primary Industries to issue protocols that set out how their respective agencies will interact with and consult the Ngāti Paoa governance entity when carrying out statutory duties and functions.

The Ngāti Paoa governance entity will enter into a conservation relationship agreement with the Department of Conservation that will outline how the Department of Conservation will engage with Ngāti Paoa.

Promotion of relationships

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations will write to a number of local authorities and Crown agencies to raise the profile of Ngāti Paoa, advise them of matters of particular importance to Ngāti Paoa and encourage them to better engage with them.

Cultural redress payment

The Ngāti Paoa governance entity will receive $1 million for cultural revitalisation and to purchase a property of cultural significance.

This redress recognises the losses suffered by Ngāti Paoa arising from breaches by the Crown of its Treaty obligations. The financial and commercial redress is aimed at providing Ngāti Paoa with resources to assist the iwi to develop its economic and social well-being.

The total financial redress for Ngāti Paoa is $23.5 million. This includes:

• $1 million received in 1993 for the Railways Deed
• $15,625,000 paid on-account to the Pouarua Farm Limited Partnership in November 2013 for the purchase of the Pouarua Dairy Complex attributable to Ngāti Paoa
• $500,000 received in August 2014 on-account of the settlement, and
• $302,167 being the agreed portion of the transfer value of the Kohera Road property received on-account of the settlement as part of the Pare Hauraki Collective Redress Deed.

Commercial redress properties

Fourteen properties held in the Treaty settlements landbank were transferred to the Ngāti Paoa governance entity in December 2015. The terms and conditions of the redress offer are recorded in a counter-signed letter dated 5 August 2015.

Commercial properties

The Ngāti Paoa governance entity may elect to purchase the following commercial properties:

• 71 Grafton Road, Grafton, and
• 136 Dominion Road, Mount Eden.

Potential deferred selection properties

The Ngāti Paoa governance entity will have the right to select potential deferred selection properties for lease back to the Ministry of Education on specified terms.

Ownership of any Crown-owned minerals in land transferred to Ngāti Paoa under the Deed will also transfer to Ngāti Paoa. This does not include nationalised minerals (petroleum, gold, silver and uranium) or affect other lawful rights to subsurface minerals.

All land which is currently subject to Schedule 4 protection will continue to be subject to the same type of protection once owned by iwi.