Ko te pūtake o te whakawhitiwhiti ā kanohi, mo te

kōpaki pūtea hei utu i nga kerēme whenua Māori i

raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi, i te Pukapuka Kaupapa a te

roopu Nāhinara mo te pōti o te tau 1990, kia

whakatautia ngā kerēme katoa i te tau 2000. Kia tūtuki

ngā take i roto i ngā tau tekau, i whakaāro te kāwana

kia wehea mai he pūtea hei utu i ngā Kerēme katoa. I

tohua tēnei kōpaki pūtea ko te utu kāwenata whakatau

mō te kerēme taunga ika a te Māori. I raro i te mana

o tenei kāwanata, i whakaāe nga kaihaina ki te iti o te

pūtea a te kārauna whakaea i ngā kerēme katoa. I

roto i te tuhinga whakaāro a Doug Graham, te minita

whakahaere i ngā kerēme o Te Tiriti, i tonoa ki te

komiti whakahaere take a te kāwana kia kawea te

kaupapa whakawhitiwhit ā kanohi ki te kanohi hei

whakatau i ngā kerēme Māori e noho tōtika ana. Ma

tēnei kaupapa "kōrero rangatira ki te rangatira" e

karotia ai te rōanga o ngā whakawānga ki te

Taraipiunara o Waitangi. He mahi nukurau tēnei i

runga i te whakapono kei te ōrite te takoto o te papa

tākaro i waenganui i te kārauna me ngā rangatira o

ngā iwi. Kāore e pēna ana te kitenga o ngā rangatira o

Te Whakatōhea i muri mai i te whakaotinga a te

kerēme a Tainui i te tau 1995.

The genesis of direct negotiation and the fiscal

envelope, for the settlement of Māori land claims

under the Treaty of Waitangi, is portended in the aim

of the National Party's Manifesto for the 1990 election

to settle all claims by the year 2,000. To meet that ten

year time-line, the National Government decided to

set aside a fixed sum for the settlement of all claims.

This fiscal cap was signalled in the (Sealords) Deed

of Settlement for the Māori Fisheries Claim as the

Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Fund. Under this

clause, the signatories to the Deed agreed that the

Crown had fiscal constraints which restricted its ability

to settle other claims. In a memorandum dated 17

March 1992, Doug Graham, Minister in charge of

Treaty Claims, recommended to the Cabinet Strategy

Committee the policy direct negotiation to settle Māori

claims that were well founded. This policy of 'chiefs

talking with chiefs' obviates the need for claimants

to go through the drawn out process of hearings with

the Waitangi Tribunal. It is a seductive scenario which

assumes a level playing field between the Crown and

tribal negotiators. But it is hardly that as the

Whakatōhea negotiators discovered after the

settlement of the Tainui Claim in 1995.