Prior to joining the Ministry of Justice she held a number of leadership and management positions with Careers New Zealand, covering similar regions and including Taranaki.
In some instances this is because the land has only one or just a few owners, or because the land is unsuitable for any form of development and owners have decided to leave it in its natural state. However, a number of blocks of Māori land held in multiple ownership that are suitable for development are also without any governance entity.
The idea was that an individual or a whānau could consolidate their shares across a large area and in a large number of blocks with many owners, down into a particular piece of land that they would call their own.
Some administration of the whānau trust is required. An IRD number had to be obtained. We get a small amount of dividend payments each year and a tax return has to be prepared.
Within the Māori Land Court districts, average ownership numbers range from 51 owners per block in the Tākitimu district to 154 owners per block in the Waiariki district.
This will also free
up judicial time for more complex matters before the Māori
Land Court.
Other changes
A number of minor and technical changes have been made to improve the operation of
Te Ture Whenua Māori Act from February 2021.
A shareholder will own a certain number of shares in an incorporation.
Ngā kaiwhaipānga
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries are the people who benefit from any development(s) from a trust or block of land.
Before being appointed to the Māori Land Court, he was the Managing Partner of a specialist Māori law firm where he acted for a number of Māori clients around the country on a range of issues, including Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations, Waitangi Tribunal claims, commercial negotiations and contract drafting, corporate and commercial law and litigation.
