A three-day Waitangi Tribunal hearing is being held Wellington for claimants who oppose a government review of Maori land law.
A review of the Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 has been under way since June 2012, and new legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament early next year.
The draft bill proposes a raft of changes to the way Maori land is governed, making it easier to develop the one million hectares of Maori land deemed to be underperforming.
The Crown requested that critical submissions by Maori Land Court judges on the reforms be excluded from the hearing, but the tribunal has rejected that request.
