ETS seen as breach of Treaty accord

[kokonutwoman]

ETS seen as breach of Treaty accord
By REBECCA TODD - The Press | Wednesday, 03 September 2008

The Government will appoint an independent reviewer to investigate whether it withheld information about the effects of the Kyoto Protocol on Ngai Tahu's Treaty of Waitangi deal.

Ngai Tahu filed a last-minute claim with the Waitangi Tribunal on Monday. It claimed the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) would wipe millions of dollars off the value of forestry assets obtained in its 1998 settlement.

Treaty Claims Minister Michael Cullen said yesterday that the Government had agreed to appoint an independent reviewer to "look at whether there is any suggestion the Crown has not been negotiating in good faith in that respect".

However, Ngai Tahu chairman (kaiwhakahaere) Mark Solomon said he had been in talks with the Government for about three months, and had been promised an independent review by the end of August.

Solomon said the Government had been aware of the effects an ETS would have on the value of Ngai Tahu forestry land from the early 1990s, but had not informed the tribe.

The ETS will make conversion of forests to other uses, such as dairying, less economic because of penalties imposed for deforestation.

"The reality is that Ngai Tahu bought its forest lands in 2001 and Kyoto went through in 2002," he said.

"I can't accept the Government didn't know what direction it was heading in."

The land was bought as part of a deferred selection process that allowed Ngai Tahu to buy $250 million worth of Crown properties as part of its settlement.

Solomon said the tribe had been clear that it was intending to convert the forests to farmland once cutting licences expired and had paid farming values for forested land.

"It's a bit rich to expect Ngai Tahu, less than 10 years after its settlement, to have over $100 million slashed off their bottom line," he said.

"I signed the settlement and I did sign it as a final settlement, but it's not us breaching it."

Climate Change Minister David Parker said he did not agree that the ETS represented a significant threat to the integrity and finality of Ngai Tahu's 1998 settlement.

"The Government has been clear with Ngai Tahu from the outset that it does not consider that any breach of Ngai Tahu's deed of settlement has occurred."

He said the Government acknowledged that there was an effect on the land value caused by restrictions on the tribe's ability to convert to dairy land.

"When the bill was reported back from select committee, we increased the amount of free allocation units to compensate them for that loss," he said.

"Ngai Tahu says that that compensation isn't enough, but the Crown disagrees."

The Government had agreed to research the original files to see if there was any merit to the Ngai Tahu claim.

"Up until now we haven't been able to find any evidence that suggests that that assertion by Ngai Tahu is correct," Parker said.