High Court | Final decision released on remaining issues

High Court | Final decision released on remaining issues

 

The High Court has today released its final decision on the remaining issues in our litigation, Stafford v Attorney General, which was heard in the High Court in Wellington over ten weeks in 2023.

 

The remaining issues were around categorisation of land, calculation of land taxes and the application of interest.

 

We were successful in our arguments around the categorisation of land, and that no further deductions should be made for land taxes. We were unsuccessful in our arguments around the application of interest.

 

These were important and financially significant decisions because they have an impact on the relief to be awarded to the customary owners, who have been represented by kaumātua Rore Stafford for many years through this litigation.

 

Overall we are pleased with the decision, as we have won on most (but not all) of the legal points.

 

You can read today’s Judgment here: Complete High Court Judgment

 

With these issues now decided, we expect further declarations from the Court in due course containing the final details of relief to be awarded.

 

Today’s judgment is one more positive step forward for our whānau after 17 long years of litigation. It upholds fundamental private property rights that apply to all New Zealanders. It also recognises the important legal duties of Trustees to act in the best interest of beneficiaries.

 

High Court decision | 2024 and 2025

 

The High Court has issued its decision in parts: the interim decision, the final decision and, finally, the declarations, which we expect in due course. This is due to the scale and complexity of this litigation.

 

Here are the key elements of the High Court decision so far.

 

  • In October 2024, the High Court released its interim decision regarding Stafford v Attorney General. The decision is significant and positive. The Court found strongly in favour of the beneficiaries and our legal arguments. The Court determined:
    • That the Crown breached its fiduciary duties to the customary owners of the Nelson Tenths Reserves
    • That the customary owners suffered loss as a result of these breaches
    • That the plaintiff, kaumātua Rore Stafford, who represents the customary owners, is entitled to relief in the form of the return of land, and compensation

 

Read the interim decision

 

  • In July 2025, the Judge formally removed the Crown as Trustee of the Tenths Trust and appointed the members of Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group as replacement Trustees. The role of the replacement Trustees is interim, as they work to finally resolve this matter with the Crown.
  • Today, the Court has found in our favour on the remaining issues around the categorisation of land, and that no further deductions should be made for land taxes. We were unsuccessful in our arguments around the application of interest.
  • Still to come: We expect the Judge to issue final declarations regarding the relief to be awarded in due course. We will keep you updated.

 


Next steps

 

The Working Group will take some time now to process the detail of the decision. We will keep you updated.

 

While, overall, the High Court decision is positive, the Crown has already appealed the decision, and we have lodged a cross-appeal to preserve our legal position. This appeal is scheduled to be heard in a five-day hearing in April 2026. The outcome is uncertain.

 

Our strong preference, since the Supreme Court decision in 2017, has always been to end the litigation and to resolve this dispute out of court directly with the Crown.

 

With this in mind, we have now started to have a kōrero with Crown and our aim is to resolve this matter with them in a positive and timely way, for the enduring benefit of Ngā Uri. We hope to have certainty around this by the end of 2025.

 

High Court update | Removal of Crown as Trustee

High Court update | Removal of Crown as Trustee

 

On 24 July, a short final hearing was held in the Wellington High Court for the Judge to hear submissions on the outstanding legal matters in our case against the Crown.

 

As part of finalising her orders, the Judge formally removed the Crown as Trustee of the Tenths Trust and appointed the members of Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group as replacement Trustees. The role of the Trustees is interim, as they work to complete proceedings against the Crown.

 

Throughout this litigation, over the past 16 years, the focus of our evidence has been on the Crown’s legal breaches and failure to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries.  The High Court and Crown accepted that there was no basis for the Crown to continue as Trustee and therefore ordered their removal.

 

The Judge’s order is a significant milestone and represents another step towards resolution.

The role and responsibilities of the replacement Trustees will now pass to those appointed by kaumātua Rore Stafford and ordered by the High Court to act collectively in the interests of all beneficiaries.

 

Read about the interim Trustees, in their capacity as members of Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group

 

Thank you to whānau and supporters for the messages of support and aroha throughout the hearing and to all who joined in person and online – we will share the final decision as soon as it is issued by the High Court.

Online hui for whānau Wednesday 30 July | LINK

Online hui for whānau Wednesday 30 July | LINK

All whānau are welcome to join our second short, informal online hui next month.

 

Wednesday 30 July, 7.30-8pm

Online via Zoom
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81739106152

 

This kōrero will be followed by a Q&A session, with questions submitted via the Zoom chat function to allow as many whānau as possible the opportunity to take part.

 

Short High Court hearing | Thursday 24 July – watch online

Short High Court hearing on Thursday 24 July – watch online

 

In October 2024, the High Court issued its interim decision. We won on almost all of the legal points that were argued. In order to issue her final decision, the Judge asked for further information regarding specific areas of land and economic valuations in the Nelson region.

 

We have reached consensus with the Crown on many of the issues that are still outstanding, but some issues remain. These include, for example, the methodology relating to the calculation of interest.

 

These outstanding issues will be heard at a short hearing at the High Court in Wellington on Thursday 24 July at 10am.

 

We expect this hearing to be just a couple of hours in duration.

 

Whānau are welcome to watch the hearing on this site here where we will be showing the hearing.

 

Thank you for your ongoing support

 

Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group

 

 

Online hui for whānau | 30 July 2025

Online hui for whānau | 30 July 2025

 

All whānau are welcome to join our second short, informal online hui next month.

 

Wednesday 30 July, 7.30-8pm

 

Online via Zoom

 

Zoom link to come

 

In this hui, we’ll talk briefly about the origins of the Nelson Tenths and the objectives of the litigation.  We will also outline the key findings of the Supreme Court and High Court to date.

 

This kōrero will be followed by a Q&A session, with questions submitted via the Zoom chat function to allow as many whānau as possible the opportunity to take part.

 

Budget 2025 and Stafford v Attorney-General

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.

 

Appeal date set for 2026

Appeal date set for 2026

In October 2024 we received a strong decision in our favour from the High Court regarding Stafford v Attorney-General. A month later, the Crown appealed the decision, in what we describe as a ‘kitchen sink’ appeal – appealing almost every point in the judgment.

 

Following the Crown’s decision to appeal, and our subsequent cross-appeal, which we filed to protect our legal position, the Court of Appeal has now set a date for a five-day Appeal Court hearing.

 

This will take place next year from 20 April 2026.

 

 

 

If you would like to receive updates directly regarding our legal case and other Te Here-ā-Nuku mahi, please sign up via our Contact and Connection form.

 

Ngā mihi

Participation in 24th UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Rights

Participation in 24th UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Rights

 

Professor Claire Charters (Ngāti Whakaue, Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi and Tainui), specialist in Indigenous peoples’ rights in international and constitutional law, presented our case at the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), held in April 2025.

 

The Permanent Forum is one of three UN bodies that is mandated to deal specifically with Indigenous Peoples’ issues.

 

Our participation in the Forum is part of our continued efforts to ensure the international community is aware of how the Crown’s ongoing failure to fulfil its legal obligations in our case is a breach of human rights.

It follows a special visit to the top of the South Island last year by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Francisco Calí Tzay. Read more about that visit here: UN expert visits Motueka to learn about Nelson Tenths case | RNZ News

 

Our aim with this work is to shine an international spotlight on our case and remind our government of its important obligations under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

 

Read more about our Human Rights work.

 

 

 

 

Legal update and further submissions – April 2025

Legal update and further submissions – April 2025

 

At the end of October 2024, Justice Edwards released her interim High Court decision Stafford v Attorney-General. In order to finalise the decision, the Judge requested further submissions from both parties.

 

This information included details about specific areas of Crown-held land in the Nelson region, economic valuations and calculations, and other outstanding matters.

 

Over the last few months, Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group has been supporting Uncle Rore, as the plaintiff, and the legal team in preparing the submissions for the Judge. A one-day follow-up hearing was held in Wellington on Wednesday 2 April to resolve the outstanding issues.

 

The Judge will now take some time to consider the outstanding matters in order to issue her final decision. We will let you know as soon as the final High Court decision is issued.

 

Meantime, at the end of 2024, following the Crown’s decision to appeal our High Court decision, we submitted an application for leave to ‘leapfrog’ the Court of Appeal and have the appeals heard directly by the Supreme Court.

That application was declined by the Supreme Court – read more about this here.

 

Pātai? Please send any questions to info@makingthetenthswhole.co.nz

Supreme Court decision on our ‘leapfrog’ application

Supreme Court decision on our ‘leapfrog’ application

 

At the end of 2024, following the Crown’s decision to appeal our High Court decision, we submitted an application for leave to ‘leapfrog’ the Court of Appeal and have the appeals heard directly by the Supreme Court.

 

After so many years of drawn-out litigation, including a successful outcome in the Supreme Court in 2017, we did this with the aim of achieving a final resolution more quickly.

 

Unfortunately, this week we’ve heard that the Supreme Court has dismissed our leapfrog appeal on the grounds that the issues are factually and legally complex, and the manner of their resolution is very important, and therefore merit full consideration in the Court of Appeal.

 

We will now, therefore, push for an urgent fixture in the Court of Appeal.

 

As always, our strong preference remains bringing an end to the litigation and resolving this dispute out of court. We remain hopeful that the Crown will do the right thing, honour its legals duties, and join us at the table to negotiate a principled solution, once and for all.