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Natural Environment Bill

Preliminary provisions

9: Crown to seek to enter agreements to uphold Treaty settlement redress or arrangements

You could also call this:

"The government will work with Māori groups to respect their agreements when new laws are made."

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

The government wants to make sure that agreements made with Māori groups under the Treaty of Waitangi are still respected when new laws come into effect. You will see changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 and the new Planning Act 2025. The government will work with these groups to make new agreements. The government will talk to these groups about how to make the new laws work with the existing agreements. They will try to make the new laws have the same effect as the old laws. If they reach an agreement, they will write it down and may even change the original Treaty settlement deed. This part of the law will be removed two years after the new law starts. But even after it is removed, the government can still talk to the groups and make new agreements. They can also make changes to other laws to make sure the agreements work. The government is trying to make sure that the new laws respect the agreements made with Māori groups. They want to work together to make sure everything runs smoothly. You can think of it like a big team effort to make sure everyone is on the same page.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1526075.

This page was last updated on 14 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Māori affairs > Treaty of WaitangiGovernment and voting > Government departmentsEnvironment and resources > Town planning

8: Treaty of Waitangi/Tiriti o Waitangi, or

"Recognising the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's environment law"

10: Treaty redress or arrangements to be given same or equivalent effect, or

"Treaty agreements are given the same importance as other environmental laws."

Part 1Preliminary provisions

9Crown to seek to enter agreements to uphold Treaty settlement redress or arrangements

To assist in the transition from the Resource Management Act 1991 to this Act and the Planning Act 2025, the Crown will work with any post-settlement governance entity, and the ngā hapū o Ngāti Porou governance entity, if they wish to do so, to seek agreement on how their Treaty settlement redress or arrangements will operate with the same or equivalent effect to the greatest extent possible under this Act and the Planning Act 2025.
The Crown will, when working with an entity under subsection (1),—
discuss, for the purpose of reaching agreement with the entity, how the Treaty settlement redress or arrangements could operate under this Act and the Planning Act 2025 in a way that would have the same or equivalent effect to the greatest extent possible; and
following those discussions, and where agreement is reached, enter into the agreement with the entity to record the agreement reached (which may include entering into a deed to amend the relevant Treaty settlement deed).

This section is repealed on and from the 2nd anniversary of the commencement of this Act.
However, the repeal of this section does not, after the date referred to in subsection (3), prevent the Crown from—
continuing discussions or entering an agreement started in accordance with subsection (2); or
entering into an agreement of the nature set out in subsection (2)(b) with an entity; or
progressing any legislation necessary to give effect to any such agreement after the repeal of this section.

For the purposes of this section and section 10,—
Resource Management Act 1991 means that Act as it was immediately before this Act received Royal assent
Treaty settlement redress or arrangements means any of the following as they specifically relate to the Resource Management Act 1991:
1. redress in a Treaty settlement:
2. redress in a signed deed of settlement:
3. arrangements under the Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019.