Hariata Baker's petition

In 2005, Hariata Baker, at the time one of the last two remaining life beneficiaries, petitioned Parliament to revive Pukepuke Tangiora’s will in its original form. Hariata Baker was particularly concerned that the Crown should no longer be responsible for appointing and dismissing trustees, and that the original 20-year prohibition should be reinstated.

In considering the petition, the Māori Affairs Committee on 18 August 2008 recommended that the Government make legislative provision to:

• establish a more appropriate trustee appointment process; and
• reinstate a prohibition on partitioning, selling, leasing, mortgaging, charging, or encumbering corpus land until 20 years after the death of the last life beneficiary.
• the Government response to this recommendation supported the establishment of a more appropriate trustee appointment process, but stated that more information was required before a response could be given to the Committee’s recommendation regarding the 20-year prohibition.