Our taonga do not belong to the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, they do not belong to Te Papa, they do not belong to museums, art galleries, and private collections home and abroad, although we do have to acknowledge and respect the curatorial guardians who have cared for our taonga; the research, preservation, security, and possession of our treasure is appreciated. But the issue is about tribal ownership, and our ability to still own things as a group. We never forget that it is our inherent right under Article 2 – ko te tino rangatiratanga ki runga I o tatou whenua, o tatou kainga, me nga taonga. ( sovereignty over our lands, homes and treasures). Our cultural heritage estate, our taonga tapu, are so much part of who we are as indigenous peoples, that it is our lifes work to fulfill our responsibilities and obligations in terms of Kaitiakitanga, as expressed in our ownership, authority and protection.¹⁷

62. Thus there is therefore a need for some hybrid or overarching negotiation process to deal with the significant numbers of Hauraki taonga in Auckland museum, otherwise very little of our taonga discovered in the last thirty years is likely to be relevant as according to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's records there is hardly anything available.

63. At the current time the majority of our taonga (found prior to 1975 and those found after 1975) are deposited with Auckland Museum, as a result of the current law, practice and policy.

64. In our practical experience the current situation is not working for us. There is almost no relationship between our iwi, particularly our kaumatua and the Auckland museum which we believe currently holds most of our taonga, although the lack of records makes it difficult to know exactly what it is holding. Dr Furey has identified in her evidence the Auckland Museum protocol and policy relating to taonga and it is clear that there is

¹⁷ In the Parliamentary debate on the third reading of the Protected Objects Amendment Bill 2006