16. Every settlement needs to include a robust overlapping interests process. The Crown is guided by the principles and guidelines it has adopted for the settlement of historical Treaty claims (refer to pages 24–26 of the 2018 Red Book) and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi — Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty) — discussed in the following section.

Treaty of Waitangi — Te Tiriti o Waitangi — principles

17. The following principles of the Treaty are relevant to overlapping interests policy:
    • Partnership: The principle of partnership underpins the relationship between Māori and the Crown under the Treaty. Māori and the Crown have a duty to act reasonably and in good faith towards the other. This requires early and open engagement with all groups that have interests and associations in the claimant group’s area of interest. Partnership can take different forms in the overlapping interests process, for example, working with the claimant group and any overlapping groups to design the process.
    • Protection: The Crown seeks to ensure it actively protects the interests of all overlapping groups, including those groups yet to settle and settled groups. The Crown seeks to actively preserve and promote amicable relations with, and between, groups and aims to minimise any damage to relationships. The Crown acts as best as it can to effect reconciliation between groups and assist in the preservation of all relationships.
    • Redress: The Crown accepts a responsibility to provide settlement redress for the resolution of historical grievances arising from Crown breaches, acts or omissions of the Treaty in each settlement negotiation. In making decisions about redress, the Crown needs to understand how its actions might affect the interests of a claimant group and the interests of overlapping groups. In doing so, the Crown is conscious of the need to avoid the creation of fresh injustice and the need to maintain capacity to provide appropriate redress in future negotiations. The Crown aims to reach fair and appropriate settlements relative to Treaty settlements already completed by considering a range of factors (summarised in the following Guidelines section and documented on pages 24–26 of the 2018 Red Book).

Treaty of Waitangi — Te Tiriti o Waitangi — obligations

For information on Treaty obligations, refer to the Cabinet Office Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi guidance on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website: 

Cabinet Office circular CO (19) 5: Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi Guidance   

For information on the principles derived from Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi, refer to the booklet on the Te Puni Kōkiri website:

He Tirohanga o Kawa ki te Tiriti o Waitangi — The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi as expressed by the Courts and the Waitangi Tribunal

Guidelines for the resolution of historical Treaty claims

18. The Crown wants to negotiate settlements of historical Treaty claims that are lasting and acceptable to most New Zealanders. It also wants to be consistent in its approach to the many claimant groups involved in negotiations, while acknowledging that each claimant group is different. To meet these Crown settlement objectives, guidelines for the resolution of historical claims have been developed. These are set out in the Red Book 2018 on pages 24 and 25. Several guidelines are relevant to the Crown’s approach to overlapping interests:
    • Treaty settlements should not create further injustices — in practice, this means any redress or remedy should be fair for the groups concerned. In providing redress to one group, care should be taken not to harm the interests of other groups.
    • Durable settlements must be fair, achievable and remove the sense of grievance — the process of negotiation is intended to ensure that the Crown and a group sign a deed of settlement only when both parties are satisfied that it is fair, and the group agrees that their grievances will finally be settled.
    • The Crown must deal fairly and equitably with all groups — the Crown must have consistent policies and practices, and the redress for each group should be fair in relation to the redress received by others.

Principles guiding the Crown’s approach to settlement

19. In 2000, principles were developed that guide the Crown’s approach to achieving Treaty settlements that are fair, durable, final and occur in a timely manner. These are also set out in the Red Book 2018 on pages 25 and 26.
20. Principles that are relevant to the Crown’s approach to developing redress and addressing overlapping interests are:
    • good faith — the negotiating process is to be conducted in good faith, based on mutual trust and cooperation towards a common goal;
    • just redress — redress should relate fundamentally to the nature and extent of breaches suffered, with existing settlements used as benchmarks for future settlements where appropriate;
    • fairness between claims — there needs to be consistency in the treatment of groups. In particular, ‘like should be treated as like’ so that similar claims receive a similar level of redress; and
    • transparency — it is important that groups have sufficient information to enable them to understand the basis on which claims are settled.
21. These principles support the Crown guidelines for the resolution of historical Treaty claims.