Budget 2025 and Stafford v Attorney-General
Last month, the Government made its Budget 2025 announcement.
The litigation that is underway against the Crown (Te Here-ā-Nuku | Making the Tenths Whole) was factored into two Budget lines:
- Vote Tari Whakatau allocated $640,000 within the Budget for ‘the development and delivery of a Crown response to the Wakatū* litigation and any related proceedings.’ This is the remainder of a $3.6m multi-year allocation made in the previous Budget – money put aside by the Crown to continue fighting us in court.
- Vote Māori Development allocated $2.4 million within the Budget for ‘Crown settlement costs as part of the Wakatū litigation’. We believe this is the amount awarded for costs following our win in the High Court in October 2023.
From what we can see, no money has been allocated by the Crown in this Budget to realise its legal obligations and resolve the case in line with the High Court’s 2024 decision, which made clear that the Crown has a significant financial and legal obligation to meet.
A fiscally responsible Government needs to account for this in the Budget, and the Government’s continuing inaction is unacceptable.
We have written again to the Attorney-General urging her to meet with us to discuss a pragmatic resolution to our case and thus avoid further and ongoing litigation at the expense of the taxpayer and of our people.
*Please note, the government continues to describe this matter in its budget as ‘Wakatū litigation’ despite Wakatū not being a party to the litigation since 2017 when the Supreme Court decided that Wakatū did not have legal standing to continue as a party.
Wakatū Incorporation funded the litigation until a new funding agreement was reached at the beginning of 2025 and Wakatū, via a significant number of its shareholders who are also beneficiaries of the Nelson Tenths’ Trust, remains inextricably connected to this kaupapa.
