A. Contact the MLC to see if trustees have been appointed for any of the lands you have interests in. If trustees have been appointed, you will need to contact them to find out about income. If there are no trustees you will need to do further investigation. Talk to the staff at the MLC about this.

A. You can contact any office of the Maori Land Court and the staff will help you to find out OR you can go to Search in the top Menu bar and choose Search Maori Land On Line. Follow the instructions to complete a search for land interests under owner name.

A. Yes, Maori land is rateable unless the local authority (i.e. a council) has granted an exemption from paying rates

A. In 1999, participants at 17 consultation hui held throughout Aotearoa New Zealand discussed issues arising from the Maori Land Court computerisation programme relating to:

• Sensitivities about access to the information and the knowledge contained in the Maori Land Court records; and
• Sensitivities about the ownership and custody of records.

One of the principal recommendations arising out of the 1999 consultation hui was that a forum be established to assist in formulating policy on access to and archiving of the Maori Land Court records. The Maori Land Owners' Consultation Forum is an opportunity for Maori to have input into the decisions concerning the operational policies affecting access to Maori Land Court records and archiving of those records in the long-term, including:

• Providing advice on records preservation and archiving policies for the historical Maori Land Court Record;
  
• Providing advice on preservation policies for other Maori Land Court paper records and for the electronic record;
  
• Providing policy advice on access to the electronic record, particularly whakapapa information; and
  
• Investigating the possibility of Maori being responsible for preservation and storage of the historical Court Record and, if this does take place, the process by which this should occur, including the standard of archiving and preservation facilities that will be required.

The forum would also be able to consider other operational policies relating to the administration of the Maori Land Court.

A. It is intended to have wide representation on the forum. The forum will include:

• A focus group; and
  
• A nationwide network of nominated representatives of hapu, whanau and Maori authorities with interests in Maori land.
  

A. The focus group will monitor operational policy issues in the Maori Land Court and identify issues for consultation. The issues for consultation will be referred to all the nominated representatives.

The nominated representatives will discuss the issues for consultation with the hapu, whanau or Maori authority they represent and will report back to the focus group. If necessary, the focus group will hold hui to discuss the issues for consultation.

The focus group will consider the responses received from the nominated representatives and advise the Ministry of Justice of matters that should be incorporated or reflected in operational policies affecting the Maori Land Court and its records.

The following diagram describes how the Maori land owners' consultation forum will work:

If you have any enquiries about this process contact Maori Land Court National Office.