The Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 set up the Waitangi Tribunal as a permanent commission of inquiry to examine any claim by Maori over any law, regulation, or acts, omissions, policies, or practices of the Crown that may have given offence.

The act also gave these handful of un-elected tribunal members the exclusive authority to interpret the treaty.

The Waitangi tribunal is a racially stacked pro-Maori lobby group and is not a court authorised to make binding authoritative statements about NZ law, they can only make recommendations to Government.

What some have to say about this group of people

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD (By Ngapuhi elder David Rankin)

When my tupuna (ancestor) Hone Heke, signed the Treaty of Waitangi, he did so because he knew it was the only option in terms of having a relationship with the British Crown. BUT THE TRIBUNAL IS NOW TELLING US THAT ALL THOSE CHIEFS SAW THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, WHICH A FEW HAD SIGNED IN 1835, IS THE BASIS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BRITISH. THAT IS A LIE AND THAT IS NOT WHAT THE TRIBUNAL WAS TOLD BY ME. In my view, the Tribunal report defamed the memory of Hone Heke, and of my whanau’s oral histories.

It may surprise many New Zealanders, but a growing number of Maori are fed up with the Waitangi Tribunal, and the entire Treaty gravy train. There is a stereotype of Maori collecting millions of dollars in settlement money and living the easy life. The reality is very different. Here are a few facts:

1. THE TRIBUNAL MAKES UP HISTORY AS IT GOES ALONG. A growing number of New Zealand historians are pointing this out, although most of them are labelled as racist for doing so. Facts are omitted in Tribunal reports, and evidence is shaped in some cases to fit predetermined outcomes. The bias is so obvious, but most historians are too scared for their careers to question the tribunal’s findings.

2. In the 1970s, many of us hoped that the Tribunal would be an organisation that would achieve reconciliation. IT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A BODY THAT IS BRINGING IN APARTHEID TO NEW ZEALAND. This sounds dramatic, until you see how it advocates for race-based access to certain areas, and race-based management policies for Crown land, and now, twin sovereignty, which constitutionally is worse than anything that happened in South Africa during the apartheid era.

3. TREATY SETTLEMENTS MAKE TRIBAL CORPORATIONS RICH, ALONG WITH THE HELP OF FAVOURABLE TAX STATUS AND OFTEN LITTLE OR NO RATES TO PAY. So with these advantages, it’s pretty easy to become super profitable. But do you think the average Maori sees any benefit from this? None at all. I have been asked several times to be on trust boards and have been offered large sums of money to do so. I refuse. History will judge the kupapa (traitors) who have abandoned our people for money.

4. THE TRIBUNAL IS A BULLY. GO AGAINST IT, AND YOU WILL BE LABELLED A RACIST OR WORSE. Yet, who does it help? Apart from a few elite Maori who have become millionaires from the process, there is no benefit to Maori overall. Drive through Huntly or anywhere in Tuhoe and you won’t find any evidence of these multi hundred million dollar settlements.

Let’s be clear. The Tribunal exists to make lawyers, and a few elite Maori very rich, and to give the impression that wrongs are being righted. We all know the Crown breached the Treaty in the nineteenth century. But by the time of my parents’ generation, this was behind us as a people…until the Tribunal dragged it all up again.

I WILL FINISH WITH A WARNING. IF YOU THINK THE CLAIMS ARE NEARLY AT AN END, THINK AGAIN. HUNDREDS OF NEW CLAIMS ARE BEING PLANNED RIGHT NOW. THESE WILL CHALLENGE THE CROWN AND SEEK COMPENSATION FOR THE HANDLING OF THE CURRENT SETTLEMENT PROCESS. TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE TOO MUCH AT STAKE FOR THE CLAIMS PROCESS TO END......

https://www.nzcpr.com/waitangi-tribunal-doing-more-harm-than-good/

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Brian Priestley MBE says about the Waitangi Tribunal > “It would be hard to imagine any public body less well-organised to get at the truth".

http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/2631/the-future-of-the-waitangi-tribunal-continued/

Dr Michael Bassett a former Cabinet Minister, noted political historian and was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal for 10yrs, observed “what you have been dealing with for the last 30years are some very inventive people stretching the wording of the Treaty so far it is falling apart because of the games that are being played with it.” (NBR March 2005)

Tribunal history also has a strong Maori bias, Dr Byrnes says. Maori characters and stories are given much more emphasis and weight than Pakeha characters and stories. "The reports increasingly champion or advocate the Maori cause."

This is not the first time an historian has questioned the academic integrity of the history produced by the Waitangi Tribunal. Other historians - including Keith Sorrenson, Michael Belgrave and Bill Oliver - have raised similar concerns.....

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3577532

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL MEMBERS (as at 7/10/15)

(17 members total, 11 maori descent & 2 pro-maori)

Chief Judge Wilson Isaac (Chairperson) - Maori descent

John Baird

Dr Angela Ballara - pro-Maori

Ronald Crosby

Miriama Evans - Maori descent

Dr Aroha Harris - Maori descent

Dr Rawinia Higgins - Maori descent

Professor Sir Hirini Moko Mead - Maori descent

Basil Morrison - pro-Maori

Tania Simpson - Maori descent

Dr Monty Soutar - Maori descent

Professor Pou Temara - Maori descent

David Cochrane

Tureiti Moxon - Maori descent

Dr Hauata Palmer - Maori descent

Derek Lardelli - Maori descent

Bill Wilson QC

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1509/S00188/three-new-appointees-to-waitangi-tribunal.htm