5 Nov 2012

Billion-dollar benchmark benefits iwi

8:49 pm on 5 November 2012

Taxpayers have now spent more than $1 billion - in 1994 dollar terms - on Treaty of Waitangi settlements, triggering further payments for iwi which signed early deals.

Ngai Tahu and Waikato-Tainui will get more money from the Crown.

They negotiated a special clause in their settlement packages to ensure that their position is not overtaken by other tribes with more recent settlements.

These relativity clauses kick in when the value of all settlement payments reaches the equivalent of $1 billion at 1994 dollar values.

The Reserve Bank's inflation calculator indicates $1 billion in 1994 is worth about $1.49 billion in today's dollars.

The iwi will each collect about $70 million in today's money.

Ngai Tahu says it will first meet to assess whether the Crown has included the value of all historical settlements in its calculation.