MEET OUR SPEAKERS

Prof Peter Adds

Professor Peter Adds works in Te Kawa a Māui at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

  • His primary whakapapa connections are to Te Atiawa ki Taranaki.  He was the claimant researcher for the Taranaki Land Claim (WAI 143) and after the Tribunal report was released, a mandated negotiator for Te Atiawa.   He has research interests in Māori and other indigenous Pacific histories; Māori archaeology; Māori customary concepts and history and contemporary issues relating to the Tiriti/Treaty of Waitangi.  

Judge Miharo Armstrong

Waitangi Tribunal Presiding Member
Te Whānau a Apanui

  • Judge Miharo Armstrong was appointed to the Māori Land Court on 1 August 2014.

    Based in Whangārei, he is one of the resident Judges for the Taitokerau District of the Māori Land Court hearing cases in Kaitaia and Kaikohe.

    Judge Armstrong graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Waikato in 2001 and was admitted to the Bar later the same year. He then moved to London where he worked as a paralegal in commercial mergers, acquisitions and insolvency before moving to an in-house legal team with the London Borough of Enfield where he regularly appeared before the County Courts. He returned to New Zealand in 2004 to practise in Rotorua where he became a partner at Aurere Law in 2010.

    Judge Armstrong has extensive experience in the Waitangi Tribunal and the Māori Land Court. He has acted for Māori landowners, trusts, incorporations, post-settlement governance entities, whānau, hapū and Iwi. He also has experience in other areas of the law appearing before the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of New Zealand. In addition to his Māori Land Court role, in 2018, Judge Armstrong was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Niue. In 2021, Judge Armstrong was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of the Cook Islands.

Christopher Finlayson KC

Christopher has had a long legal and political career. Graduating from Victoria University in 1984 with a LLB as well as a BA in Latin.

  • Christopher then began the first part of his legal career at Brandons, where he was a law clerk and then staff solicitor. Throughout this time he continued to study at Victoria University and graduated with a LLM in 1984 ( later to receive a LLD (Honorary) in 2020).

    In 1986, Christopher became a partner in Brandon Brookfield and, later in 1990, became a partner at Bell Gully.

    In 2005 he was elected to Parliament as part of the National Government where I was to hold a number of portfolios, including becoming Attorney-General and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, positions which he held until the 2017 Election.

    Christopher was a foundation author of McGechan on Procedure, the leading text on the practice and procedure of the Senior Courts of New Zealand, as well as being the founding editor of Procedure Reports of New Zealand.

    In 2021, with James Christmas, Christopher co-wrote He Kupu Taurangi, which analyses the Crown-Māori relationship, and in 2022 he wrote Yes, Minister An Insider's Account of the John Key years.

    Christopher has also had extensive involvement in arts and culture. He have served as Chair of the Creative New Zealand Arts Board and was a trustee of a number of arts organisations prior to entering Parliament. Since leaving Parliament he has served on several arts boards and is currently a member of the Sarjeant Gallery Trust and the Adam Foundation. In 2023 he was appointed to the board of Te Urewera.

    Christopher continues to practice law and is now a Barrister at Bankside Chambers, Auckland, though he resides in Wellington. Throughout his career he has worked in many courts throughout New Zealand. Christopher's work is wide-ranging and includes both public and private matters.

Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown

Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown (Te Aupōuri) is a kaupapa Māori law and policy academic whose research interests include child and youth wellbeing, te Tiriti o Waitangi and Indigenous peoples rights.

  • His PhD research focused on kaupapa Māori approaches to child protection and the need to decolonise the child protection system. His whakapapa is to Te Aupōuri in the Far North of Aotearoa, and he lives in Wellington with his whānau.

Derek Fox

Tribunal Member
Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou

  • For more than 40 years, Derek Fox has been at the forefront of Māori broadcasting. He has a diverse career spanning journalism, communications, broadcasting, local and national politics, and publishing.

    Mr Fox has had a hand in most of the major Māori broadcasting initiatives, including the battle for and the development of Māori Television and he served as the chair for the first Māori Television Service board. Mr Fox was appointed to the Tribunal in 2021.

Morgan Godfery

Morgan Godfery (Te Pahipoto, Ngati Awa) is a former academic and writer.

  • He is currently the Chief Executive of the Kawerau District Council.

Dr Lara Greaves

Dr Lara Greaves (Ngāpuhi, Pākehā, Tararā) is an associate professor in politics at Victoria University of Wellington and a senior research fellow in statistics at the University of Auckland.

  • She is a Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellow (2024-2029), investigating improvements to democracy and participation in New Zealand, particularly focusing on Māori and intersectionality.

Dr Paul Hamer

Tribunal Member

  • Paul Hamer is a historian with extensive experience in the public sector. He has longstanding connections with Victoria University of Wellington’s Institute of Policy Studies and Te Kawa a Māui (the School of Māori Studies) and has a doctorate from Monash University in Melbourne. From 1993 to 2004, he worked for the Waitangi Tribunal, for most of that period leading the team that assisted Tribunal inquiry panels in the writing of their reports. From 2004 to 2007, he was employed at Te Puni Kōkiri, mainly as a policy manager in the area of Treaty settlements. During 2006, he was based at Griffith University in Queensland as a visiting fellow, researching a report for Te Puni Kōkiri about Māori in Australia, which was launched by the Minister of Māori Affairs in Sydney in 2007. In 2008, Paul returned to working for the Tribunal, taking a lead role in assisting the writing of Tribunal reports on two major inquiries, the Wai 262 Flora and Fauna and Māori Intellectual Property Inquiry and the Te Paparahi o te Raki (Northland) Inquiry. He also authored several historical research reports commissioned by the Tribunal as evidence. From 2017 to 2021, Paul was employed as principal adviser in the Rautaki Māori (Māori Strategy and Partnerships) Team at the Department of Corrections. Dr Paul Hamer was appointed to the Tribunal in 2020.

Assoc Prof Aroha Harris (MNZM)

Associate Professor Aroha Harris (MNZM) belongs to Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi iwi.

  • She is a historian at Te Pūtahi Mātauranga o Waipapa Taumata Rau, Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of Auckland. Significant among her publications are Hīkoi: Forty Years of Māori Protest (2004), the award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History (2014), a collaboration with Emeritus Professor Atholl Anderson and the late Dame Judith Binney, and the essay collection co-edited with Melissa Matutina Williams, Maranga! Maranga! Maranga! Essays from Te Pouhere Kōrero (2024). Aroha is a former President of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, a founding member of Te Pouhere Kōrero, the national collective of Māori historians, and former President of the New Zealand Historical Association. She was a Waitangi Tribunal member from 2008 to 2023.

Photo: Rebecca McMillan

Professor Janine Hayward

Janine Hayward is a professor of politics at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka—the University of Otago.

  • She worked at the Waitangi Tribunal in the late 1990s and has published extensively on the Waitangi Tribunal, the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty settlements. 

Professor Rawinia Higgins

Tribunal Member
Tūhoe

  • Professor Rawinia Higgins (Tūhoe) is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington. Professor Higgins is a Board member of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and the current Chair and Commissioner of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori - the Māori Language Commission. Professor Higgins is the first woman to be appointed to this position. She was elected as a Pacific Region representative on the Global Taskforce for the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages. Professor Higgins has been appointed to a number of governance and advisory board roles for government, Māori, and iwi. Her research expertise is Māori language revitalisation and, more specifically, language planning and policy and she was instrumental in shaping the current Māori language legislation and policy framework.

Ria Te Uira Holmes

Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga

  • Ria Te Uira is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Law at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Her areas of research include Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Tikanga Māori and Labour.

Andrew Irwin

Andrew has specialised in Treaty of Waitangi related issues for over 25 years..

  • Andrew acts for the Crown and Māori in the Waitangi Tribunal and the courts in a range of cases.  In the Waitangi Tribunal, Andrew has acted for the Crown in various historical inquiries (the Northland, Tauranga Moana and Hauraki inquiries), kaupapa inquiries (the Justice Sector, Constitutional and Education kaupapa inquiries), contemporary inquiries (the Radio Spectrum claim, the Ngāpuhi and Ngātiwai mandate inquiries) and in remedies inquiries (the Wairarapa and Wai 45 remedies inquiries).  Andrew also acts for claimants in the Health and the Freshwater/Geothermal inquiries.  Andrew was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Strategic Direction Review Group.

Dr Carwyn Jones

Dr Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a Kaihautū of Te Whare Whakatupu Mātauranga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa and the lead academic in the Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) programme there.

  • He is an Honorary Adjunct Professor at Te Kawa a Māui – the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and a Fellow of Te Apārangi – the Royal Society of New Zealand. His research focuses on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of Indigenous peoples.

    He is the author of New Treaty, New Tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori Law, a co-author of Treaty Law: The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in law and practice, and an editor of the new collection of essays, 50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal – Whakamana i te Tiriti.

Eru Kapa-Kīngi

E toro ana ngā tātai whakapapa o Eru Kapa-Kīngi ki ngā pito maha o Aotearoa, o Te Ika Nui a Māui – nō Te Aupōuri, nō Ngāpuhi, nō Waikato, nō Te Whānau a Apanui

  • Eru grew up in Te Tai Tokerau, the birthplace of both He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, considering himself a kaipupuru of the mauri both those constitutional pou were created to protect within a changing world. Eru has been on a journey of reclamation and politicisation, and outside of being a pāpā, is a carrier of kaupapa, organiser of activations, and holder of kōrero and wānanga.

    Eru is a teaching fellow at the University of Auckland in the Faculty of Law, and spokesperson for Toitū Te Tiriti.

    E tika ana te kōrero a Te Atua Wera, he rua rau tau ka hipa i te tāmoko o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ka ara ake ko te pono ki te whakatikatika i ngā mea katoa, meanei te reanga o te pono te maranga ake nei!

Craig Linkhorn

Craig is a barrister at Clifton Chambers in Wellington where he works on public law issues.

  • Before moving to the independent bar in 2017 he worked at Te Tari Ture o Te Karauna, the Crown Law Office. It was at Crown Law that Craig first gained experience appearing for the Crown in the Waitangi Tribunal. Across 30 years he has appeared before the Tribunal in inquiries into district, contemporary and kaupapa claims. Along with Dr Carwyn Jones, Craig is a co-editor of the Māori Law Review.

Justice Diane MacDonald

Justice Diane MacDonald is Métis (Canada) from her father’s side; she also has Scottish ancestry.

  • Justice MacDonald earned her Bachelor of Arts (History) from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and her Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
    She then completed a Ph.D. (with distinction) in law and public policy at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Justice MacDonald practiced law for almost 25 years prior to being appointed a Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court in 2018, sitting in Vancouver. Since April 19, 2022 Justice MacDonald has been a part-time member of the Specific Claims Tribunal while also sitting on the BC Supreme Court.

    Prior to her judicial appointments, Justice MacDonald’s focus was in the areas of labour law, constitutional law, and human rights. She acted as legal counsel before arbitrators, administrative tribunals, and at all levels of court. In 2014, Justice MacDonald acted as counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada on a successful Charter of Rights and Freedoms case. It was the first time the Supreme Court, under the anti-discrimination clause, applied substantive equality to women. In 2016, Justice MacDonald again successfully argued a Charter case before the Supreme Court of Canada. The case involved freedom of association and government’s duty to consult in good faith.

    As a lawyer, Justice MacDonald was a frequent speaker on workplace, human rights, and constitutional issues. She also provided policy advice to provincial and federal task forces. On the Court, Justice MacDonald hears civil, criminal, administrative, and family law disputes. On the Tribunal she adjudicates historical breaches of Canada’s legal obligations regarding treaties, reserve lands and resources, and First Nations’ trust funds. The Tribunal hearings occur on First Nations’ traditional lands and rely on oral history evidence as part of the evidentiary foundation for decisions. She is excited to participate in the Waitangi Tribunal Conference.

Matanuku Mahuika

Matanuku is a barrister at Bankside Chambers, which he joined in March 2024 after having spent almost 21 years as a founding partner of the law firm Kahui Legal.

  • Matanuku’s legal experience covers a wide range of corporate, commercial, public law and Treaty of Waitangi issues.  He has appeared regularly in the Waitangi Tribunal and has either acted on, or been a negotiator for, numerous Treaty of Waitangi settlements.  He appears as counsel in all of the senior courts.  He also chaired the Ministerial Panel to Review Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993, was one of the statutory reviewers for the 2022 review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, and co-chaired the reference group for the recent strategic review for the Waitangi Tribunal.

     

    In addition to his legal experience Matanuku has more than 20 years of governance experience.  He is the current Chair of Eastland Generation, and a member of the boards of Callaghan Innovation and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Judge Yasmin Shehnaz Meer

Judge of the Land Claims Court: November 1996 to May 2024
Judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court January 2003 to May 2024
Acting Judge, Supreme Court of Appeal: 2011
Acting Judge President of the Land Claims Court of South Africa 2012 to 31 May 2024

  • During her 28 years as a permanent judge, Yasmin has adjudicated a wide range of disputes traversing inter alia, the following areas of law: Administrative, Commercial, Constitutional, Contract, Delict, Family Law, Land and Property, Maritime, Insolvency, as attested to by her published and unpublished judgments.

    Meer has a BA from the then-University of Durban-Westville (1975), and LLB from the University of Cape Town (1979) and an LLM from University of Warwick in the United Kingdom (1982).

    She was the Western Cape Chairperson of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee from 2006 until 2010 and an extraordinary professor at the University of Stellenbosch from 2017- present.

Dr Hana O’Regan ONZM

Tribunal Member

  • Dr Hana O’Regan has worked in the areas of language revitalisation, identity and cultural development, te reo Māori, and education for over 25 years. She is a published author and composer and is recognised internationally for her work in indigenous language acquisition and revitalisation. A graduate of Te Panekiretanga (the Institute of Excellence in Te Reo Māori), Hana is widely respected for her Māori language contribution, skills, and advocacy.

    Hana has held two director positions on the senior executive at ARA Institute of Canterbury, has been the general manager oranga for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and has held many positions on national boards, review panels, and committees across the areas of education, Māori development, national identity, Treaty rights and policies, and health. Since late 2020, she has been Tumu Whakarae of Tātai Aho Rau – CORE Education, a for-purpose organisation with a focus on equity through learning. Hana’s passion for education, community, history, and equity has resulted in a career committed to working with organisations, businesses, and individuals to support and enhance positive outcomes for learners and whānau. Dr O’Regan was appointed to the Tribunal in 2021.

Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer, KCMG, AC, KC

Distinguished Fellow, Faculty of Law and Centre for Public Law, Victoria University of Wellington; Global Affiliated Professor, College of Law, University of Iowa.

  •  Palmer was born in Nelson in 1942 and was educated at Nelson College, Victoria University of Wellington, and the University of Chicago. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1965 and to the bar in 1966 and practiced in Wellington with O'Flynn and Christie. He graduated  BA, LLB before taking up a British Commonwealth Fellowship to the University of Chicago where he graduated JD cum laude in 1967. Returning to New Zealand he was for two years a lecturer in Political Science at the Victoria University of Wellington.

    In 1969 he became a law professor in the United States for three years at the University of Iowa beginning in 1969 and one year at the University of Virginia until 1973. After serving on an Australian  government Inquiry into the future of the tort system  for personal injury he returned to New Zealand  as a law professor in 1974.

    Palmer entered  politics as the MP for Christchurch Central in 1979 for the Labour Party. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition in 1982. After Labour was elected to government in 1984, he  held the offices of Attorney-General, Minister of Justice, Leader the House, Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister from 1989 to 1990. He was Minister for the Environment 1987-1990.

    On leaving politics in 1990 again he was a law professor  splitting his time between the University of Iowa and the Victoria University of Wellington. He has been tenured twice at the University of Iowa.

    In 1994 he became a Foundation Partner of Chen & Palmer Public Law Specialists in Wellington where he remained until 2005 when he was appointed President of the Law Commission, a position he occupied until 2010.  During that period, he also chaired the Legislation Advisory Committee. He has appeared extensively in the superior courts including the Privy Council.

    He is a member of the Her Majesty's Privy Council, was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1991 and was made an honorary companion to the Order of Australia the same year. He was made a member of the Global 500 Roll of Honour by the United Nations Environment Programme.  He was elected a member of the American Law Institute, a Member of the American Association of International Law and a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences.  He has been member of the New Zealand Law Society Rule of Law Committee.

    He holds honorary doctorates from four universities: Hofstra University in New York; Washington University  St Louis; the University of Glasgow;  Te Herenga waka Victoria University of Wellington. In 2016 he was made a Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple in London, one of the Inns of Court.

    In 2010 and 2011 he chaired the Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident for the United Nations in New York that reported to the Secretary-General. For eight years he was New Zealand's Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission. He has   list of more than 200 publications in legal periodicals, chapters in books  and speeches that can be accessed on the Social Science Research Network:SSRN.com

    He is also the author or co-author of twelve books, including Reform – a Memoir published by the Victoria University Press in November 2013.  These include a teaching text on international environmental law with an American scholar  Professor Jonathan Carlson, International Environmental Law that is in its fourth edition, published  in 2019 by West Academic.   He has taught courses on climate change, constitutional law  and public law in Wellington. In the United States he has taught torts and comparative constitutional law and other specialized short courses  in international law.  He has taught a course on inquiries with Sir Terence Arnold in Wellington.  In March 2015 he delivered the Scarman lecture at the Middle Temple in London entitled “The Law Reform Enterprise: Evaluating the Past and Charting the Future” that appeared in the Law Quarterly Review in July 2015.

    In 2016 he published with Andrew Butler A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand (Victoria University Press) The proposed entrenched Bill of Rights includes   an environmental right. In 2018 he published with Andrew Butler Towards Democratic Renewal-ideas for constitutional change in New Zealand.

    Palmer  served as a member of the Government Inquiry into Operation Burnham that concerned the propriety of the  conduct of New Zealand military forces in Afghanistan and reported in 2020 with a 400-page report. The inquiry lasted more than two years.

     His book with his granddaughter  Gwendoline on how the New Zealand government works aims at improving the level of civics education in New Zealand was published in June 2022: Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand -A Survival Guide (Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, 2022).

    In 2025 a 350page book was published containing contributions to a conference in Honour of Sir Geoffrey Palmer, published Te Herenga Waka University Press, Victoria University of Wellington, The Future of Democracy, Law and Government  edited by Mark Hickford and Matthew S R Palmer.

Judge Sarah Reeves

Waitangi Tribunal Deputy Chairperson
Te Ātiawa

  • Judge Sarah Reeves was appointed to the Māori Land Court on 10 December 2010. On 24 November 2021, Judge Reeves was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal. On 1 May 2023, she stepped into the role of Acting Chairperson.

    Based in Wellington, she is one of the two resident Judges for the Te Waipounamu District of the Māori Land Court, hearing cases in Blenheim, Nelson and the Chatham Islands.

    Judge Reeves graduated with a Bachelor of Law from the University of Otago and was admitted to the Bar in 1985. She has worked in New Zealand, Rarotonga, Singapore and Hong Kong specialising in commercial and property law. Before she was appointed, she was a senior in-house counsel for the Auckland City Council.

    Judge Reeves has presided over inquiries concerning the MV Rena, the Ngā Puhi mandate, the Ngātiwai mandate, and the Ngāti Maniapoto mandate. She is the current presiding officer of the Mana Wahine inquiry.

    In addition to her current Māori Land Court and Waitangi Tribunal roles, Judge Reeves was also appointed as a High Court Judge in Niue in 2014.

Tania Simpson ONZM

Tribunal Member
Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tahu

  • Tania Simpson is a director of Auckland International Airport, Meridian Energy, Waste Management NZ, and Tainui Group Holdings. She is Chair of the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, and Deputy Chair of Waitangi National Trust.

    She holds a Master of Mātauranga Māori from Te Wānanga o Raukawa, is an Accredited Fellow with the Institute of Directors, and was awarded the rank of Officer of the NZ Order of Merit, Commander in the Order of the Taniwha by King Tūheitia and Dame Commander in the Order of St Lazarus. She has had a career in public policy and governance. Ms Simpson was appointed to the Tribunal in 2008.

Dr Monty Soutar ONZM

Tribunal Member
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Kahungunu

  • Dr Monty Soutar is a professional historian, currently working on a historical novel series called Kāwai. He has worked widely with iwi and Māori communities, in particular while writing Ngā Tama Toa (David Bateman, 2008), which told the story of C Company of 28 (Maori) Battalion in the Second World War and Whitiki! (David Bateman, 2019), which focused on Maori participation in the First World War. He has been a teacher, soldier, university lecturer, iwi runanga chief executive and senior historian with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He and has held a number of appointments on national advisory boards, including the Archives NZ Council, the Guardians of the Alexander Turnbull Library and the First World War Centenary Panel. Dr Soutar was appointed to the Tribunal in 2002.

Annette Sykes

Annette Te Imaima Sykes is of Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Mākino descent, born and raised at Hinehopu by Pirimi Whata Karaka and Tawhitoariki Morehu.

  • Annette has devoted her life to championing Māori rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Educated at United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) and Victoria and Auckland University where she obtained a law degree and Bachelor of Commerce. She was an adjunct professor at Auckland University's Faculty of Law.

    Annette’s distinguished legal career spans nearly four decades, focusing on Māori interests and constitutional justice. Annette has served on numerous boards, including Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Pikiao and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd. She participated in the Fisheries Settlement, arguing the case at the Privy Council. Currently, she advises the Ministry for the Environment on Māori rights in freshwater management and serves as a trustee for the Crown Forest Rental Trust. Annette manages her own law firm in Rotorua mentoring young professionals.

    In recognition of her significant contributions to the legal field, Annette has recently been honoured with two prestigious awards. In August 2024, she was conferred the Access to Justice Award by the New Zealand and Australian Bar Association. This was followed in September 2024 by the bestowal of the Lifetime Membership Award from Te Hunga Rōia Māori, the Māori Law Society.

Linda Te Aho, MNZM

Linda Te Aho, MNZM, is of Waikato, Ngāti Korokī Kahukura and Ngāti Mahuta descent and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, Waikato University.

  • Linda holds a number of iwi governance positions for Waikato-Tainui and Ngāti Koroki Kahukura entities. Linda is appointed by the Governor General on the Ngārimu VC and 28th Māori Battalion Scholarship Fund Board, a certified Independent Hearings Commissioner for resource management and planning hearings, and was awarded the Judith Binney Research Fellowship in 2023 to research and publish history and mātauranga relating to Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. Linda was appointed as a pou tikanga in relation to the Waitangi Tribunal’s Constitutional Kaupapa Inquiry, and has contributed a chapter to the book that will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Tribunal. Her chapter is entitled, “Awa: Ngā wai honohono – the rivers that join us”.

Ati Teepa

Ati Teepa (Tūhoe, Kāi Tahu) is an artist and poet based in Ruatoki.

  • He has extensive experience working in the creative arts sector, as a creative producer, public programming producer at Te Papa Tongarewa and as a senior kaupapa Māori advisor at Toi Rauwharangi, College of Creative Arts, Massey University. Recently Ati's work has included Associate Producer for the film Muru (2022); a collaboration with Tame Iti for the exhibition, I will not speak Māori (2022) and a visual storytelling collaboration in Ōtepoti Dunedin with the Mana Moana collective (2023).

    As a writer, Ati draws inspiration from his whānau, whenua and the stories of Te Urewera, his home. Ati is currently one of the inaugural fellows of the Tuwhare Creative Residency and is working on his first poetry publication.

Tania Waikato

Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Hine me Te Whakatōhea hoki

  • Special Counsel – Tamaki Legal

    I specialise in assisting Māori businesses and organisations, Māori land trusts, Te Tiriti and constitutional law, employment law, health & safety, resource management, MACA and more.

    I am a published academic author in NZ and Japan and recently completed my LLM (First class honours) at the University of Auckland. I also hold a conjoint Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts (Māori) degree from the University of Waikato and have 20 years of post-qualification experience across a wide array of specialties.

    I hold a number of voluntary positions including as a representative on the Rangitaiki Hapū Coalition and the Rangitāiki River Environmental Fund Trust, in partnership with TrustPower and Fonterra. I am also a NZ representative in Olympic weightlifting and a rongoā Māori practitioner.

Hon Justice Sir Joe Williams KNZM

Ngāti Pūkenga and Te Arawa (Waitaha, Tapuika)

  • Justice Williams was appointed a Judge of the High Court in September 2008, a Judge of the Court of Appeal in February 2018 and a Judge of the Supreme Court in May 2019.  He graduated from Victoria University with an LLB in 1986 and from the University of British Columbia, Canada, with an LLM (Hons) in 1988.  He then joined, and later became a partner of the national law firm Kensington Swan, now Dentons.

    After practising as a partner of Walters Williams & Co between 1994 and 1999, Justice Williams was appointed Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court in December 1999.  Shortly thereafter he was also appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal and appointed the Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal in 2004.

    Justice Williams is a former Vice President of the Māori Law Society and a former President of Te Runanga Rōia o Tāmaki Makaurau, the Auckland Māori Lawyers Association.  He is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers; a distinguished fellow of the Law Faculty at Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington; an Honorary Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato | Waikato University; and an adjunct professor at the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre at Canterbury University. 

    He won the Victoria University of Wellington Distinguished Alumni Millennium Prize in 2000 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Māori Development by Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in 2020.

    He was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2020.

    In the 1980s, while at law school in Wellington, Justice Williams was the lead singer of a popular Māori reggae/ RnB band called Aotearoa.  His tribal affiliations are Ngāti Pūkenga and Te Arawa (Waitaha, Tapuika).  He speaks Māori fluently.

    He and his partner Gillian Warren have six children between them, a number of whom refuse to leave home.

Che Wilson

Ngāti Rangi-Whanganui, Tūwharetoa, Mōkai Pātea, Ngāti Apa, Ngā Rauru

  • His career spans leadership in iwi, government, and philanthropic governance. He has led cultural, economic and arts delegetions internationally. He has held roles as Chair, CEO, and lead negotiator for Ngāti Rangi, as well as Deputy Secretary for the Ministry for the Environment. He also served as president of Te Pāti Māori.

     

    Che was raised in Ohakune, in a large extended whānau at the base of his maunga, Koro Ruapehu. From a young age, he was immersed in the cultural knowledge and traditions of his iwi, beginning formal learning in his whare wānanga before entering high school. Through this path he has led advice both nationally and internationally.

     

    Che is currently director and co-owner of NAIA Limited, a consultancy based in Christchurch and the Waikato region. His work focuses on indigenous knowledge, leadership development, and organisational strategy. He speaks and mentors internationally, develops learning resources, facilitates leadership programmes, and has hosted podcasts sharing insights from indigenous perspectives.

     

    He is currently leading research on Puanga (the star Rigel), exploring its role in indigenous astronomy and how traditional environmental knowledge can inform modern land use and seasonal planning. He also serves as a treaty negotiator for another one of his iwi, Mōkai Pātea nui tonu.

Prof. David Williams

Tribunal Member

  • Professor Emeritus David V Williams comes from a sheep farming background in Hawkes Bay and Whanganui. He attended Whanganui Collegiate School. He has tertiary qualifications in history, law and theology from Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College). His PhD is from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His university teaching and research career at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland focussed especially on ‘law and society’ and on ‘legal history.’

    As an officeholder in the Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality [CARE] he was a political activist engaging with many issues affecting Māori and Pacific peoples during the 1970s and 1980s. From 1991 to 2001 he was an independent researcher specialising in historical research relevant to Treaty of Waitangi claims. He has worked with many hapū and iwi as an historian, and as a claims negotiator. He is also an ordained priest in the Anglican Church, chairperson of the St Isaac’s Retreat House Trust in the Hokianga, and was formerly Legal Adviser to Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa. Professor Williams was appointed to the Tribunal in 2023.

Tanith Wirihana Te Waitohioterangi 

Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Te Whānau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Ngāti Ruapani

  • Tanith is a PhD candidate in Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. They have been an intern with the Waitangi Tribunal, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, and undertaken historical research with the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust, and Ngāti Ruapani Mai Waikaremoana.

    Their research focuses on whakapapa, iwi historiography, and the legacies of Ruapani in Tūranga. Tanith also serves in iwi, hapū, and marae governance and is an artist specialising in stone tool making, and in the Tūranga traditions of asymmetrical kōwhaiwhai and whakairo.

    From a young age, they have contributed to restoration projects at Te Muriwai, Te Poho o Rawiri, and Rongopai Marae.