In 2008 Ngāti Tūwharetoa received a share of Crown forest land in the central North Island valued at $203 million as part of the CNI Forests Iwi Collective settlement. This redress was received on account of their individual comprehensive settlement.

In November 2011, the Crown recognised the mandate of the Tūwharetoa Hapū Forum (THF) to represent Ngāti Tūwharetoa in negotiating a comprehensive historical Treaty settlement.

The Crown signed Terms of Negotiation with THF on 14 January 2013. On 6 March 2015, the Crown and THF signed an Agreement in Principle which formed the basis for this settlement.

On 15 December 2016, THF and the Crown initialled a Deed of Settlement (the Deed). The Deed is subject to ratification by the members of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and conditional on the enactment of the settlement legislation.

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 Christopher Finlayson,
represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ngāti Tūwharetoa.

Before 1860 Ngāti Tūwharetoa actively opposed Crown purchase negotiations for land in their rohe. Following the invasion of Crown forces in the Waikato in 1863, Ngāti Tūwharetoa was drawn into the fighting because of their whakapapa connections and allegiance to the Kīngitanga. The war marked the beginning of widespread disruption to the social, political and economic structures of Ngāti Tūwharetoa life. A number of Ngāti Tūwharetoa people lost their lives in these battles.

In the 1860s, the Crown introduced a series of native land laws which provided for the individualisation of Māori land holdings which had previously been held in tribal tenure. This induced profound change to systems of Māori customary land tenure, and contributed to the alienation of Ngāti Tūwharetoa whenua by undermining tribal control over their land. Crown purchasing of Ngāti Tūwharetoa land also began in the 1860s and became increasingly intensive through the 1870s and 1880s. By 1900, the Crown had acquired more than 430,000 acres of Ngāti Tūwharetoa land. Today, much of this land remains in Crown ownership and forms large portions of the public conservation estate.

In the 1880s, the Crown sought to establish a national park around Tongariro maunga. In 1887, Horonuku Te Heuheu Tukino IV made a tuku of the three volcanic peaks to protect and preserve the mountains for Ngāti Tūwharetoa, other iwi, and all New Zealanders. The Ariki’s intention was to enter into a partnership with the Queen; however, legal ownership of the mountain peaks was vested solely in the Crown which began a process whereby Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s authority over the taonga in the Tongariro National Park has been greatly reduced.

From the 1890s, trout and other exotic fish were introduced into Lake Taupo and the waterways of Tongariro, which significantly depleted indigenous freshwater fish species and forced Ngāti Tūwharetoa to rely on introduced fish species for food, hospitality, trade, and koha. In 1926, the Crown acquired the beds of Lake Taupo and its tributaries, which it held for 66 years before they were returned to Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1992.

Throughout the 20th century, the Crown’s prolonged imposition of orders against private alienation of lands owned by Ngāti Tūwharetoa locked up much of the iwi’s land and resources (particularly indigenous timber), and precluded the iwi from developing these assets.

Since the 1870s, the Crown took Ngāti Tūwharetoa land for a variety of public works, many of which disrupted or uprooted their communities. Many of these public works projects have been of considerable benefit to the people of New Zealand but have polluted, destroyed, or irreparably harmed many of the natural resources within Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s rohe; for example, in 1941 the Crown installed control gates on the Waikato River at the outlet from Lake Taupo which flooded Ngāti Tūwharetoa land and destroyed many cultural and geothermal taonga.

Between 1964 and 1984, the Crown constructed a hydroelectric power scheme around the Tongariro maunga, which radically re-engineered the natural waterways of the volcanic plateau and has had wide-ranging and deeply felt impacts upon Ngāti Tūwharetoa. The Crown’s use of Lake Rotoaira as a storage reservoir for the scheme resulted in its substantial ecological destruction.

Economic marginalisation, unemployment and underdevelopment have contributed to the extensive outward migration of Ngāti Tūwharetoa peoples as they have left their rohe in search of opportunities elsewhere.

The Deed includes a cultural redress package intended to recognise the traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations of Ngāti Tūwharetoa with places and sites owned by the Crown within their area of interest. This allows Ngāti Tūwharetoa and the Crown to protect and enhance the conservation values associated with these sites.

The Deed recognises the significance of Tongariro National Park to Ngāti Tūwharetoa as a taonga tapu. Ngāti Tūwharetoa will be able to negotiate cultural redress over the Tongariro National Park, along with other iwi and hapū with interests in the Tongariro National Park. These negotiations will begin within one year of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Deed of Settlement being signed.

Sites transferred to Ngāti Tūwharetoa

The Deed provides for the vesting of 32 Crown-owned sites to Ngāti Tūwharetoa. The settlement legislation will vest these sites in the Post Settlement Governance Entity, Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, on settlement date. The following sites will be vested in fee simple:

• Aratiatia Flats 1 and Aratiatia Flats 2
• part of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve
• part of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve (subject to a building height covenant)
• Karapiti
• Tauhara Mountain Scenic Reserve (subject to a conservation covenant)
• part of the former Tauranga Taupo School site
• part of Wairakei Forest (subject to a conservation covenant)
• land at Loop Road, Wairakei
• land at Karetoto Road, Wairakei
• Tokaanu Market Reserve
• Puanga Street Recreation Reserve
• Tawera Street Gravel Reserve
• part of Taupo Landing Recreation Reserve
• Hautu 3F1 and Grace Road Conservation Area.

The following sites will be vested as historic reserves:

• part of Aratiatia Conservation Area
• part of Motuoapa Scenic Reserve
• Taupo Courthouse Historic Reserve
• part of Tokaanu Thermal Park Recreation Reserve
• Waihi Road Recreation Reserve
• Waihi Road Scenic Reserve.

The following sites will be vested as recreation reserves:

• part of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve
• Hatepe Recreation Reserve
• part of Oruatua Conservation Area
• part of Tongariro National Trout Centre (administration by The Tongariro Trout Hatchery and Freshwater Ecology Centre Trust)
• part of Taupo Landing Recreation Reserve (administration by Taupo District Council)
• part of Tokaanu Thermal Park Recreation Reserve
• Waipahihi Stream Conservation Area.

The following sites will be vested as scenic reserves:

• part of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve
• Motutere Scenic Reserve
• part of Oruatua Conservation Area and Oruatua Reserve
• Waiotaka Scenic Reserve
• land on the western bank of Huka Falls.
• Broadlands Road Geothermal Scenic Reserve will vest as a scientific reserve.

Overlay classification 

An overlay classification acknowledges the traditional, cultural, spiritual and historical association of Ngāti Tūwharetoa 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 Deed provides two overlay classifications over areas within Pureora Forest Park.

Statutory acknowledgements

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

The Crown offers a statutory acknowledgement over Lake Otamangakau, Lake Rotokawa, Lake Te Whaiau, the Rangitāiki River and its tributaries (within the Ngāti Tūwharetoa area of interest), the Waikato River and its tributaries (within the Ngāti Tūwharetoa area of interest), the Waiotaka River and its tributaries, Titiraupenga and Pureora Mountains, and the Horomatangi, Rotokawa, Tokaanu-Waihi-Hipaua and Wairakei-Tauhara geothermal fields.

Changes to place names

Place names recognise iwi associations with geographic areas. Eight place names will be changed in the Deed:

• Bulli Point to Te Poporo/Bulli Point
• Cherry Bay to Kōtukutuku Bay
• Cherry Island (local use name) to Motutāhae
• Hallets Bay (Hamuria) to Pākā Bay
• Kotukutuku Stream to Kōtukutuku Stream
• Mission Bay to Ōtaiātoa Bay
• Rat Island (local use name) to Whakamourore, and
• unnamed site to Te Mako Headland
• Mission Bay Recreation Reserve to Ōtaiātoa Bay Recreation Reserve.

Te Kōpua Kānapanapa

The Deed provides for the establishment of a statutory board, Te Kōpua Kānapanapa, to restore, protect and enhance the environmental, cultural and spiritual wellbeing of the Taupo catchment, to provide strategic leadership on the sustainable and integrated management of the environment in the Taupo catchment and to provide a mechanism for Ngāti Tūwharetoa to exercise mana and kaitiakitanga over the Taupo catchment in partnership with local authorities.

Te Kōpua Kānapanapa will consist of eight members: four members appointed by Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa (the Ngāti Tūwharetoa governance entity), two members appointed by the Waikato Regional Council and two members appointed by the Taupo District Council.

Membership on the Rangitāiki River forum

The Deed provides for the governance entity and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to appoint one member each on the Rangitāiki River Forum.

Ngāti Tūwharetoa cultural funds

The Deed provides for the governance entity to receive on the settlement date:

• $2,500,000 towards the establishment of a Ngāti Tūwharetoa Whare Taonga
• $1,000,000 to help restore the mauri of Te Wai Ū o Tūwharetoa spring
• $250,000 to fund projects to restore traditional mahinga kai, places of harvest and the practice of mātauranga Māori within the Ngāti Tūwharetoa area of interest, and
• $200,000 cultural and environmental revitalisation fund for cultural redress properties of Aratiatia and Atahaka.

Conservation redress

The Deed provides for the development of a conservation management strategy over sites of significance to Ngāti Tūwharetoa and the ability for the governance entity to nominate a person for appointment by the Minister of Conservation to the Tongariro Taupo Conservation Board in addition to the appointment of Te Ariki (paramount chief) of Ngāti Tūwharetoa to that board.

Fisheries redress

The Deed provides for the establishment of the Tongariro Trout Hatchery and Freshwater Ecology Centre Trust to be managed by the governance entity, the Minister of Conservation and the Tongariro National Trout Centre who will each appoint two trustees. Ngāti Tūwharetoa will be allowed to take trout directly from the centre for cultural purposes. This is partly in recognition of the role trout have played in changing the ecosystem of Taupomoana and a reduction in the abundance of traditional fish such as koura.

Protocols and relationship agreements

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

The governance entity will enter into a partnership agreement (Te Piringa) with the Department of Conservation and relationship agreements with the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Corrections.

Letters of introduction and letter of commitment with the museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations will write letters of introduction to the Manawatū District Council, the Rangitikei District Council, the Ruapehu District Council and the Manawatū-Whanganui Regional Council to raise the profile of Ngāti Tūwharetoa with the local authorities and advise of the aspirations of specific Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū to work more closely with the local authority.

The governance entity and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa will work together on matters relating to the restoration and protection of Ngāti Tūwharetoa taonga, access to, and protection of, information and taonga relating to Ngāti Tūwharetoa, and the establishment of the Whare Taonga.

The redress in the Deed recognises the losses suffered by Ngāti Tūwharetoa arising from breaches by the Crown of its Treaty obligations. The financial and commercial redress is aimed at providing Ngāti Tūwharetoa with resources to assist them to develop their economic and social wellbeing.

Ngāti Tūwharetoa have already received a share of Crown forest land in the central North Island valued at $203 million as part of the CNI Forests Iwi Collective settlement in 2008.

Financial redress

Ngāti Tūwharetoa will receive additional financial redress of $25 million.

Commercial redress

Ngāti Tūwharetoa will purchase part of Karioi Forest and Taurewa Station on settlement date.

Ngāti Tūwharetoa will also have the opportunity to purchase one Crownowned property within a deferred selection period of two years after settlement date and one Crown-owned property within a deferred selection period of 6 months after settlement date. Any property will be subject to lease back to the Crown.

Ngāti Tūwharetoa will have an exclusive right of first refusal over Crownowned properties located within a specified area for 174 years from settlement date and a right of first refusal over certain quota under the Fisheries Act 1996 for a period of 50 years.