Kruger accuses Key of 'losing his nerve' | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Tuhoe Treaty Settlement chief negotiator Tamati Kruger says Prime Minister John Key has lost his nerve by refusing to return Te Urewera National Park to the tribe.

Mr Key told Mr Kruger during a phone call on Monday night that returning the national park to the iwi would be too big a step, describing it as "a bridge too far".

Mr Key ruled out handing over Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe as part of the iwi's Treaty of Waitangi settlement claim.

However, Mr Kruger said Mr Key's view was disconnected and inconsistent with the Crown's negotiating team which Tuhoe had been negotiating with for the past 18 months.

He said during the iwi's negotiations it was consistently the view of all the different government departments that the best way to resolve Tuhoe's claim was to return Te Urewera to Tuhoe.

"Through these negotiations I have talked with Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and [Maori Party co-leader] Pita Sharples and they have all agreed to the return of the park," Mr Kruger said.

"The negotiations have been completely betrayed by a unilateral intervention by one man.

"He is wanting to preserve National Party politics.

"There are some heartland voters who think too much is being returned to Maori and he is defaulting to that view."

Mr Kruger told The Daily Post he was called by Mr Key on Monday morning and told he could not support a move to return Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe. "He recited to me what his view was - returning the Urewera to Tuhoe was a bridge too far. That the general public were not confident their principles and access rights would be safe with the Urewera returned to Tuhoe," Mr Kruger said.

"There is a saying that goes 'Maori are stuck in grievance mode', however this is the opposite - it is the Crown who is stuck in grievance mode and Tuhoe are championing the cause of trying to break the repetition of history."

Mr Kruger said nearly 405,000ha (1 million acres) of land was stolen from Tuhoe and it was now being camouflaged as a national park.

"We remind the Crown the privileges that have been enjoyed by [New Zealanders] who have visited the Urewera has been at the trade off of Tuhoe rights and that New Zealand has lived under the illusion [the park] has always been public land."

Removing the option of returning Te Urewera to the iwi was also removing the solution to the problem, Mr Kruger said.

 Mr Kruger said that since Mr Key's phone call there had been no contact from the Crown.

"For Tuhoe, it has been a long view that the Government is fickle. We want to have discussions and get a full explanation as to why [Mr Key] lost his nerve."

The Maori Party was furious over the Tuhoe decision.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell from Rotorua said he was outraged, not only by the decision, but by the way it was announced.

"Te Urewera has been the homeland of Tuhoe for hundreds of years, before the concept of title ownership was invented in this country, even before a government arrived on the shores of this country," he said.

Making an announcement while negotiations were in progress was unheard of, he said.