This initiative involved the Council returning 172 hectares of land known as Panepane Purakau to the five hāpu of Matakana Island through a negotiation and a significant community engagement process. This included not only the return of the land but the retention of some land as a public reserve, rights of access to beach and wharf, navigation and some Council retention of rights to harvest mature trees.
The Judges said: The return of Panepane Purakau is an exemplary initiative of successful engagement with Māori. There are strong elements of co-design of a proposed way forward, appropriate investments in relationships before the engagement begins, being prepared to commit the time and resource necessary to succeed and seeking a win-win solution. We commend the partners for working together to right an historical wrong that fell outside the Treaty settlement process.
