3 May 2012

Countdown to freshwater and state assets hearing

9:28 am on 3 May 2012

The Maori Council's legal team says the clock is ticking for it to get its evidence together to be heard by the Waitangi Tribunal.

The second week in July has been set down to consider parts of the urgent claims over freshwater and the sell-off of stakes in some state owned assets.

The council is asking the Tribunal to issue a recommendation that the sales are delayed, ahead of further hearings and a full report on the claims.

Its lawyer Donna Hall says it's clear what the inquiry has to examine.

She says the trick in this claim is to look at it wearing the lenses of the Crown and then look at it from a Maori perspective and listen to what they are saying about water rights - which is at the heart of the claim.