Government coalition leader, David Seymour has rubbished a Waitangi Tribunal recommendation to return all Crown-owned land in Northland to the local iwi - but hinted at other ways he would approach the conversation.

Over the weekend, the Waitangi Tribunal provided a report on extensive Te Tiriti breaches against Ngapuhi. Among its recommendations to the Crown were an apology, a return of the land, offering compensation and entering talks to rework our constitutional framework.

Talking to Heather Du Plessis-Allan Drive on Monday, Seymour said he'd never heard of an instance where a whole region of land was taken from the hands of the Crown.

"There have been claims in just about every part of the country where land has been returned as redress to acknowledge past wrongs," he said.

"For example, in Auckland [there was] a major settlement back in 2014 - volcanic cones are now under co-management, but the Auckland Domain and many other areas of Crown-owned land, every school is owned by the Crown and I imagine something similar might happen in Northland."

Du Plessis-Allan asked if co-management was an option Seymour would consider to meet the recommendations of the tribunal, Seymour wouldn't commit himself.

"It was used as a solution to a particularly tricky situation," he said.

"Many different hapu have historically had a claim to them, so co-management was an elegant solution where you couldn't really give it back to one in particular and there's still a public interest in them."

Seymour wasn't sure exactly how much land Ngapuhi would be entitled to claim, noted that once all schools, Department of Conservation land, parks and regional parks were taken into account, it would be a large amount.

"There might be some areas where it makes sense, as part of redress where Ngapuhi make a settlement - and I hope my folks up there will at some point - that there will be some Crown land returned," he said.

"But the idea that, as a principle, all Crown land would be returned to Ngapuhi, I don't see that flying and it would certainly be vastly out of step with every other Treaty settlement that's been made in New Zealand."

The Act leader was adamant it wouldn't be a viable option for non-Māori in Northland, and he suspected every other iwi that felt entitled to the land would ask for their pound of flesh.

When asked about the specific request from the tribunal to amend the Treaty constitution to right previous wrongs, Seymour said he understood the requirement was rooted in a belief that the Treaty had been poorly negotiated.

"One view of it was that [Governor William] Hobson oversold the benefits and undersold how much the chiefs would be giving up," he said.

But he stopped short of supporting the notion Ngapuhi would be entitled to claim they didn't concede sovereignty, arguing we're now in 2023 and the region had since progressed.

"It's about 160,000 people who live in Northland, some Māori - about half, some not. Northland's real challenge is it's the worst region in the country for school attendance, it has terrible roads and a low economy."

Seymour said a constitutional change would require a shift away from the notion of one person, one vote and instead promote a power imbalance that would give more authority to somebody based on their ethnic lineage.

"That is a non-starter," he said.

"I wouldn't be part of a government that de-commissioned New Zealand's democracy in that way."