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Māori Land Update –
Ngā Āhuatanga o te whenua
June 2025 | Hune 2025
This update is issued by the Office of the Chief Registrar, Māori Land Court | Te Kooti Whenua Māori
to provide key statistics on Māori land, including the number and total area of Māori Customary Land
(MCL) and Māori Freehold Land (MFL) blocks, and how many of these are managed by trusts or
incorporations versus those that are not.
Tairāwhiti
PĀNUI
He pānuitanga tēnei kia mohiotia ai ka tu Te Kooti
Whenua Māori ki te whakawā, ki te uiui hoki, i ngā
tikanga o ngā tono a muri ake - Nau mai, haere mai
Special Hearing
Courtroom 3
Hastings District Court
106 Eastbourne Street West
Hastings
Monday, 20 November 2023
Judge M J Doogan presiding
PANUI NO: TIME: APPLICATION NO: SECTION: APPLICANT: SUBJECT:
Sp2 10:00am AP-20230000026803 18(1)(a)/93 Tim Smith Francis Guthrie Smith -
determi...
Tairāwhiti
PĀNUI
He pānuitanga tēnei kia mohiotia ai ka tu Te Kooti
Whenua Māori ki te whakawā, ki te uiui hoki, i ngā
tikanga o ngā tono a muri ake - Nau mai, haere mai
Special Hearing
Courtroom 4
Hastings District Court
106 Eastbourne Street West
Hastings
Friday, 8 December 2023
Judge M J Doogan presiding
PANUI NO: TIME: APPLICATION NO: SECTION: APPLICANT: SUBJECT:
Sp2 10:00am AP-20230000026803 18(1)(a)/93 Tim Smith Francis Guthrie Smith -
determine a claim to rights to
M...
Tairāwhiti
PĀNUI
He pānuitanga tēnei kia mohiotia ai ka tu Te Kooti
Whenua Māori ki te whakawā, ki te uiui hoki, i ngā
tikanga o ngā tono a muri ake - Nau mai, haere mai
Special Hearing
Courtroom 4
Hastings District Court
106 Eastbourne Street West
Hastings
Thursday, 7 December 2023
Judge M J Doogan presiding
PANUI NO: TIME: APPLICATION NO: SECTION: APPLICANT: SUBJECT:
Sp2 10:00am AP-20230000026803 18(1)(a)/93 Tim Smith Francis Guthrie Smith -
determine a claim to rights to...
This includes a list of all aggregated (or combined) Māori land blocks. It does not include information about Crown Land, Crown Land Reserved for Māori, general landowned by Māori, or land blocks under internal review.
The unengaged owners are not the problem the report imagines
For a significant number of blocks of multiply-owned Māori land today, the engaged
owners are a minority of the owners.
No record of these conversations will be publicly available on the Māori Land Court record. If an agreement is reached through mediation, the mediator will record the terms of the agreement and provide this to the Māori Land Court.
Access to Māori land was generally considered when the title of the land was originally issued and in many cases:
a roadway would have been created to give access to the land
there may have already been a public or private roadway servicing the land, or
a right of way to access land, across a neighbouring property, may have been put in place.
