Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Maori King pleased Tania Martin stood down

Updated at 6:00 am on 27 November 2012

The Maori King says he is pleased Tania Martin was stood down as the chair of the Waikato-Tainui parliament after a meeting of the tribe's leadership on Sunday.

Ms Martin was demoted at a lengthy meeting of the parliament and Waikato-Tainui executive, accused of bringing the parliament into disrepute.

In a statement on Monday, Kingi Tuheitia said the decision to remove Ms Martin was the right one.

He congratulated the tribal parliament for taking what he called a difficult step.

He said it was a giant leap towards lessening division within the tribe and hopefully ending costly litigation.

Kingi Tuheitia said he hoped members would accept the decision without recourse to court action.

Ms Martin was demoted following a critical letter by the Maori King urging infighting between the tribe's parliament and tribal executive to stop.

He called for members of both the tribal parliament and executive to step down and seek re-election.

The King's representative, a member of the tribal executive, Greg Miller, says the demotion is a step towards the King's ambitions to revamp the tribe's constitution.

He says the existing rules do not encompass tikanga Maori.

Mr Miller says the tribe needs a constitutional change.

He says Kingi Tuheitia aims to ask the people what they want through a referendum.

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