The government is facing ongoing calls to shelve its asset-sale programme after the Waitangi Tribunal found Maori have rights to water.
Ministers will receive urgent legal advice on Sunday on whether they can proceed with the planned partial sale of electricity generator Mighty River Power this year, APNZ said.
The government campaigned on a policy of partial privatisation of state-owned companies and among those tagged for sale are Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy and Mighty River Power, all of which make some use of water.
But in an interim report on a Maori Council action, the Waitangi Tribunal said Maori had property rights to water under the Treaty of Waitangi and these needed to be sorted before assets were sold.
Ministers will consider material in coming days and will make decisions in early September about Mighty River Power, the first company to be partially sold, Prime Minister John Key's office said.
"As previously agreed, the government and the Maori Party will jointly discuss the report as part of developing their respective responses to it," a statement provided to NZ Newswire said.
Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell says there's a chance the government's asset sales may not go ahead and the parties need to get together to talk about the tribunal's decision.
Sir Tumu te Heuheu, chair of the Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group, said that while the crown undoubtedly would give careful consideration to the asset-sale issue, the Iwi Leaders Group remained committed to progressing its existing discussions with the crown.
"Those discussions are focused on the appropriate recognition of iwi rights and interests in the context of the development of a new freshwater management framework in New Zealand," the powerful Maori leader said in a rare statement on Sunday.
The group preferred talks to litigation.
"One of the key principles for the Iwi Leaders Group is the health and wellbeing of our waterways. We must, as a nation, find a way forward which protects the sustainability of our water resources into the future."
The tribunal's ruling is not binding on the government but it is creating uncertainty for the asset-sale programme.
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