Jacinda Ardern has defended taking so long to reply to five Māori leaders over their concerns about Whānau Ora.

The group, including Maori Party and Whānau Ora founder Dame Tariana Turia, has lodged an application to the Waitangi Tribunal over funding concerns.

They say they took the action after writing to Ardern in November, and not receiving a response.

The Prime Minister told Mike Yardley she wanted to respond properly, after addressing some of their concerns about commissioning agency funding.

"I wasn't happy with the draft I had in front of me, so I wanted to rework that and resolve some other outstanding issues."

She says it took time to respond to their letter properly, but she's hoping to meet with the group soon.

"Our starting position is the same. We seen the good results of Whānua Ora, there's just a bit of discussion from their part over what portion should be going to commissioning agencies versus local commissioning."

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is refusing to put a date on a possible deal over Ihumātao.

There's speculation an agreement on the proposed south Auckland development site could be reached this week.

It comes after the Māori King lowered a flag on the site last week.

Ardern says they haven't signed off anything, and they can't make any guarantees.

"The sooner the better. I don't want to put any arbitrary completion dates on it, but we've been making some good progress and we'll keep going."