tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-100960/articlesTe Tiriti o Waitangi – The Conversation2024-03-11T00:59:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254432024-03-11T00:59:19Z2024-03-11T00:59:19ZTaking the Treaty out of child protection law risks making NZ a global outlier<p>Australia, Canada and New Zealand share similar colonial stories. Historically, New Zealand has been the most interested of the three in thinking about how the universal human rights of equality, dignity and culture might gradually challenge the colonial order.</p>
<p>Australia hasn’t traditionally taken such issues as seriously, as the defeat of last year’s <a href="https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/detailed-analysis-2023-voice-parliament-referendum-and-related-social-and">Voice to Parliament</a> referendum suggested. It struggles to address the consequences of its <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/stolen-generations">stolen generations</a> practices, while Canada struggles with the consequences of its <a href="https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/">residential schools</a> legacy. </p>
<p>Both nations’ policies were intended to “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47547227">breed out</a>” the original inhabitants of those lands. New Zealand used “<a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/Chapter%201%20Ranginui%20Walker.pdf">native schools</a>”, among other measures of assimilation.</p>
<p>Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) offers an alternative non-colonial vision, however. While always contested, it has sometimes made New Zealand a leader in Indigenous-state relations.</p>
<p>But in the past month, modest policy developments in Australia, and a significant constitutional development in Canada, have highlighted the extent to which New Zealand is becoming an outlier in international Indigenous policy thinking.</p>
<h2>Amending the Oranga Tamariki Act</h2>
<p>As part of their <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/2023-11/National_ACT_Agreement.pdf">coalition agreement</a>, the National and ACT parties will remove section 7AA from child protection agency Oranga Tamariki’s <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0024/latest/whole.html">governing legislation</a>. </p>
<p>The section came into force in 2019, allowing “strategic partnerships” with iwi (tribes) and other Māori organisations to improve child care and protection. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/care-and-protection-or-containment-and-punishment-how-state-care-fails-nzs-most-vulnerable-young-people-224629">Care and protection, or containment and punishment? How state care fails NZ's most vulnerable young people</a>
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<p>In part, it was a response to successive <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/tribunal-releases-report-on-oranga-tamariki/">independent reports</a> finding fault with Oranga Tamariki’s ability to care effectively for children at risk, especially Māori children. Last month, the <a href="https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/children-care-complaints-ombudsman-2019-2023">Ombudsman reported</a> 109 “formal deficiencies” in the agency’s work between 2019 and 2023.</p>
<p>Some might argue section 7AA still gave the state too much power, especially when the agency continues to do such a poor job. But without the section, Māori will again be left without recourse within the act to challenge that state power.</p>
<h2>Australia and Canada change course</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the Australian government has this year <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/next-steps-closing-gap-delivering-remote-jobs#:%7E:text=Quotes%20attributable%20to%20Prime%20Minister,hope%2C%20and%20ideas%20for%20change.">announced it will establish</a> a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People. According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:</p>
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<p>Indigenous children are almost eleven times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children. The National Commissioner will focus on working with First Nations people on evidence-based programs and policies to turn those figures around.</p>
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<p>It’s a simple ambition that won’t change overall power relationships. And it doesn’t have the far-reaching implications of the <a href="https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/cb/2024/40061-eng.aspx">Supreme Court of Canada</a> finding Indigenous peoples have an “inherent right of self-government, which includes jurisdiction in relation to child and family matters”.</p>
<p>But the notion that evidence counts, and that Indigenous people have a say in what constitutes that evidence, provides a sharp contrast with the current New Zealand government’s plan to remove reference to the Treaty from the Oranga Tamariki Act.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-the-principles-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-really-give-maori-too-much-power-or-not-enough-224728">Do the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi really give Māori too much power – or not enough?</a>
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<h2>NZ as outlier</h2>
<p>In Australia, some of the evidence Albanese referred to can be found in <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/12_2021/dess5016-national-framework-protecting-childrenaccessible.pdf">Safe & Supported: the national framework for protecting Australia’s children</a>. Developed by the federal and state governments, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and the non-government sector, it sets out various policies and priorities.</p>
<p>These cover the primary role of families, communities and cultures in effective care, holistic support services, and addressing the causes of abuse and neglect. Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act aimed to foster the same things.</p>
<p>Like Australia and New Zealand, Canada retains its colonial outlook. But its acknowledgement of the right of self-government – with reference to the United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> – shows New Zealand is increasingly out of step on Indigenous policy.</p>
<p>Canada says its <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-11.73/index.html">Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families</a> aims to contribute to the “implementation” of the UN declaration by offering a pathway to just and effective policy.</p>
<p>The province of Québec objected to this federal law on the basis it weakened its own powers. However, Canada’s Supreme Court found against Québec. The national <a href="https://afn.ca/all-news/bulletins/afn-bulletin-february12-2024-supreme-court-of-canada-ruling-on-an-act-respecting-first-nations-inuit-and-metis-children-youth-and-families/">Assembly of First Nations</a> said this paves the way to rebuild their role, as the people who preceded the modern state, in caring for children at risk.</p>
<h2>Right to self-determination</h2>
<p>The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States were initially the only UN members to vote against it (11 abstained).</p>
<p>Over time, however, all four countries have come to agree with the rest of the world that the declaration didn’t create any new or special rights. It simply recognised that human rights belong to Indigenous peoples as much as to anybody else. </p>
<p>When New Zealand changed its position in 2010, then National Party leader and prime minister <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-govt-support-un-rights-declaration">John Key said</a>: </p>
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<p>My objective is to build better relationships between Māori and the Crown, and I believe that supporting the declaration is a small but significant step in that direction.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-state-removal-of-maori-children-from-their-families-is-a-wound-that-wont-heal-but-there-is-a-way-forward-140243">The state removal of Māori children from their families is a wound that won't heal – but there is a way forward</a>
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<p>Yet in 2023, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nzfirst/pages/4462/attachments/original/1700784896/National___NZF_Coalition_Agreement_signed_-_24_Nov_2023.pdf?1700784896">National’s coalition agreement</a> with NZ First confirmed the previous government’s <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125621081/willie-jackson-announces-more-undrip-consultation-confirms-that-he-puapua-is-not-the-plan">rejection</a> of the 2019 <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018795469/what-is-he-puapua">He Puapua</a> report on how New Zealand might implement the UN declaration.</p>
<p>Importantly, the declaration is not binding on member countries. But its essential premise is that Indigenous peoples have the same right to self-determination as others.</p>
<p>By repealing section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and removing the requirement that Maori agencies are involved in decision making, the presumption that child care and protection policy should work equally well for Māori people is diminished.</p>
<p>This also weakens New Zealand’s commitment to the UN declaration’s insistence that Indigenous peoples have:</p>
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<p>the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to […] violence […] including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.</p>
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<p>Repealing section 7AA sets back New Zealand’s efforts to uphold those rights, at a time when similar countries are taking steps in the opposite direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the New Zealand government removes reference to the Treaty in the Oranga Tamariki Act, Canada and even Australia are taking steps in the opposite direction on Indigenous children’s rights.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234472024-02-14T19:22:32Z2024-02-14T19:22:32ZMāori political systems are the oldest in Aotearoa – it’s time university politics courses reflected this<p>Many of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiKM0XXZPXQ">speakers</a> at Kingi Tūheitia’s <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/18-01-2024/what-you-need-to-know-about-te-hui-aa-motu-the-national-unity-hui">Hui a Motu in Tūrangawaewae</a> last month talked of their desire for a flourishing Aotearoa. A place where Māori knowledge and leadership is embraced and where the universal benefits of te Tiriti o Waitangi are understood. </p>
<p>But it is clear from our current discourse on the Treaty that we are falling short of this goal. </p>
<p>Hui speakers spoke of the importance of knowing New Zealand’s history. And they discussed steps already being taken by communities across the country in support of a nation of peace and respectful political relationships.</p>
<p>Other speakers questioned how politicians could be querying the terms of te Tiriti o Waitangi when so many discussions on the topic have already taken place. These discussions are happening in community centres, marae, universities, councils and in the courts.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://ajie.atsis.uq.edu.au/ajie/article/view/649">our recent research</a> on political programmes at universities nationwide shows a lack of knowledge about how these systems have come to shape our country. It’s a gap that is fuelling the misinformation. </p>
<h2>A gap in Treaty knowledge</h2>
<p>A 2023 <a href="https://tikatangata.org.nz/news/revealing-poll-shows-people-see-te-tiriti-o-waitangi-as-partnership">survey</a> commissioned by the Human Rights Commission found that while 58% of New Zealanders believe they are informed about the Treaty, 32% believed they weren’t. Concerningly, 32% had not read any summary or version of the Treaty at all. </p>
<p>New Zealand politicians have also, at times, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/131798518/national-party-mp-under-fire-for-treaty-comments">shown a poor understanding</a> of the Treaty. </p>
<p>With the current debate over the treaty being fuelled by the Act Party’s <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/508579/act-launches-treaty-principles-bill-information-campaign">Treaty Principles Bill</a>, it is important to reflect on the role and responsibilities of universities as the critic, conscience and educators of society.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waitangi-2024-how-the-treaty-strengthens-democracy-and-provides-a-check-on-unbridled-power-221723">Waitangi 2024: how the Treaty strengthens democracy and provides a check on unbridled power</a>
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<p>As teachers of te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori politics, we have found students keen to learn about, and be part of, a vibrant Aotearoa which upholds its Treaty and embraces working together to benefit us all. </p>
<p>But we have also found these students have little prior exposure to these topics, and have unhelpful views formed by snippets from social media.</p>
<p>However, there is a noticeable shift in some disciplines.</p>
<p>After a recent decision by the <a href="https://nzcle.org.nz/">New Zealand Council of Legal Education</a>, all university law students enrolling in a legal degree from 2025 onwards must be equipped with an understanding of <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?keywords=tikanga">tikanga Māori</a> (incorporating practices and values from Māori knowledge) as a source of law in Aotearoa New Zealand. </p>
<p>This mandate follows <a href="https://johnwalton.co.nz/musings/ellis-appeal---the-place-of-tikanga-in-the-common-law">decisions by the Supreme Court</a> of New Zealand recognising the foundational importance of tikanga Māori in the law. The Law Commission has also produced a <a href="https://www.lawcom.govt.nz/our-work/tikanga-maori">study paper</a> examining tikanga in New Zealand’s legal landscape.</p>
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<h2>Politics students and the treaty</h2>
<p>But can the same be said for students of politics? </p>
<p>Our research looked at how well politics programmes around Aotearoa might be equipping students for the landscape of an Aotearoa of peace and respectful political relationships.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we found there is still quite some way to go. </p>
<p>Our review showed there continues to be very little engagement by the discipline with Māori politics. In fact, we found only around 1% of content taught in politics programmes appeared to be focused on Māori politics. And only around 1% of lecturers teaching in politics programmes were Māori. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-kohanga-reo-generation-and-how-could-they-change-maori-and-mainstream-politics-215694">Who are the 'kōhanga reo generation' and how could they change Māori and mainstream politics?</a>
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<p>The same result also appeared in our review of New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rpnz20">Political Science</a> journal, where we found only around 1% of the articles published could be considered <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/2439">kaupapa Māori</a> (written by Māori about Māori politics).</p>
<p>Although there is Māori political content taught in other parts of universities, largely through Māori Studies courses, it is concerning that students studying politics in New Zealand receive very little exposure to Māori politics. </p>
<p>Aotearoa has a unique political experience, one founded and shaped by Māori through iwi and hapū politics, and more recently by the British Crown through <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea-otago/02-02-2021/why-te-tiriti-should-place-a-limit-on-the-supremacy-of-parliament">imposed colonial political structures</a>. As such, all aspects of politics in Aotearoa must be understood as we continue to work together in making inclusive political systems that benefit all.</p>
<h2>Catching up with the rest of the country</h2>
<p>Expanding on what is taught across the political science discipline aligns with the commitments that universities have made to being Tiriti-led educational environments. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/about/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-massey/">Massey University</a> describes itself as a “Tiriti o Waitangi-led institution”. And in 2021 the University of Canterbury created a <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/126463329/university-of-canterbury-now-new-zealands-first-treaty-university">treaty partnership office</a> and committed to a “genuine partnership with mana whenua” and strengthening Māori leadership. </p>
<p>Students have come to expect a university education that upholds te Tiriti and actively promotes critical engagement with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-and-myth-why-the-treaty-of-waitangi-remains-such-a-bloody-difficult-subject-202038">History and myth: why the Treaty of Waitangi remains such a ‘bloody difficult subject’</a>
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<p>In the past two months, thousands of people from across Aotearoa have demonstrated their commitment to te Tiriti o Waitangi by supporting and attending Māori-led political events. </p>
<p>The Kīngitanga Hui a Motu, the yearly political debates at Ratana, and <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/508521/waitangi-day-2024-thousands-of-visitors-one-clear-message">large turnouts to Waitangi day celebrations</a> illustrate the diversity and vibrancy of Māori politics. </p>
<p>Iwi and hapū politics are the longest enduring political systems in Aotearoa. It is time for politics programmes in New Zealand universities to recognise this to create a more collaborative and flourishing Aotearoa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Bargh receives funding from the 'Adaptive Governance and policy', Biological Heritage, National Science Challenge. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Te One does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just 1% of politics education in New Zealand is focused on the Māori dimension, new research has found. How can the country discuss Te Tiriti o Waitangi when very few understand it?Maria Bargh, Professor, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonAnnie Te One, Lecturer in Māori Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219732024-02-01T19:05:21Z2024-02-01T19:05:21ZWaitangi Day 2024: 5 myths and misconceptions that confuse the Treaty debate<p>When it comes to grappling with the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty-of-waitangi">Treaty of Waitangi</a>/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, one of the commonest responses is that it’s a matter of interpretation. It seems to be a perfectly fair reaction, except that historical interpretation generally requires adherence to rules of evidence.</p>
<p>It is not a licence to make any claims whatsoever about the Treaty, and then to assert their truth by appealing to the authority of personal interpretation.</p>
<p>Yet since the 1970s we’ve been faced with the paradoxical situation of a growing body of Treaty scholarship that has led to less consensus about its meaning and purpose.</p>
<p>It is therefore worthwhile to investigate some of the more common misconceptions about the Treaty that have accrued over recent decades. This will not lead to a definitive interpretation of the Treaty. But it might remove a few obstacles currently in the way of understanding it better.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-and-myth-why-the-treaty-of-waitangi-remains-such-a-bloody-difficult-subject-202038">History and myth: why the Treaty of Waitangi remains such a ‘bloody difficult subject’</a>
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<h2>1. The Treaty or Te Tiriti?</h2>
<p>A common view persists that the English and Māori versions of the Treaty are fundamentally at odds with each other, especially over the central issue of sovereignty.</p>
<p>But research over the past two decades on <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/assets/WT-Part-2-Report-on-stage-1-of-the-Te-Paparahi-o-Te-Raki-inquiry.pdf">British colonial policy prior to 1840</a> has revealed that Britain wanted a treaty to enable it to extend its jurisdiction to its subjects living in New Zealand. </p>
<p>It had no intention to govern Māori or usurp Māori sovereignty. On this critical point, the two versions are essentially in agreement.</p>
<h2>2. The Treaty is not a contract</h2>
<p>The principle of <em>contra proferentem</em> – appropriated from contract law – refers to ambiguous provisions that can be interpreted in a way that works against the drafter of the contract.</p>
<p>However, there are several problems in applying this principle to the Treaty. Firstly, treaties are <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/byrint11&div=8&id=&page=">different legal instruments from contracts</a>. This explains why there are correspondingly few examples of this principle being used in international law for interpreting treaties.</p>
<p>Secondly, as there are no major material differences between the English and Māori versions of the Treaty when it comes to Māori retaining sovereignty, there is no need to apply such a principle.</p>
<p>And thirdly, under international law, treaties are not to be interpreted in an adversarial manner, but in good faith (the principle of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2203309"><em>pacta sunt servanda</em></a>). Thus, rather than the parties fighting over the Treaty’s meaning, the requirement is for them to work <em>with</em> rather than against each other.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-to-live-with-the-messy-complicated-history-of-how-aotearoa-new-zealand-was-colonised-172219">Learning to live with the 'messy, complicated history' of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised</a>
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<h2>3. Relationships evolve over time</h2>
<p>No rangatira (chief) ceded sovereignty over their own people through the Treaty. Nor was that Britain’s intention – hence Britain’s recognition in August 1839 of hapū (kinship group) sovereignty and the guarantee in the Treaty that rangatiratanga (the powers of the chiefs) would be protected.</p>
<p>Britain simply wanted jurisdiction over its own subjects in the colony. This is what is known as an “originalist” interpretation – one that follows the Treaty’s meaning as it was understood in 1840.</p>
<p>This has several limitations: it precludes the emergence of Treaty principles; it wrongly presumes that all involved at the time of the Treaty’s signing had an identical view on its meaning; and, crucially, it ignores all subsequent historical developments.</p>
<p>Treaty relationships evolve over time in numerous ways. Originalist interpretations fail to take that into account.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
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<h2>4. Questions of motive</h2>
<p>British motives for the Treaty were made explicit in 1839, yet in the following 185 years false motives have entered into the historical bloodstream, where they have continued circulating.</p>
<p>What Britain wanted was the right to apply its laws to its people living in New Zealand. It also intended to “civilise” Māori (through creating the short-lived Office of Protector of Aborigines) and protect Māori land from unethical purchases (the pre-emption provision in Article Two of the Treaty).</p>
<p>And Britain wanted to afford Māori the same rights as British subjects in cases where one group’s actions impinged on the other’s (as in the 1842 <a href="https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/te-kaharoa/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/61/58">Maketū case</a>, involving the conviction for murder and execution of a young Māori man).</p>
<p>The Treaty was not a response to a <a href="https://h-france.net/rude/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/vol5_11_Jennings_Marists_Colonial_Policy_final.pdf">French threat to New Zealand</a>. And it was not an attempt to conquer Māori, nor to deceive them through subterfuge.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pebble-in-the-shoe-to-future-power-broker-the-rise-and-rise-of-te-pati-maori-212089">From 'pebble in the shoe' to future power broker – the rise and rise of te Pāti Māori</a>
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<h2>5. Myths of a ‘real’ Treaty and 4th article</h2>
<p>Over the past two decades, some have alleged there is a “real” Treaty – the so-called “<a href="https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/stout-centre/research-and-publications2/research-units/towru/publications/The-Littlewood-Treaty.pdf">Littlewood Treaty</a>” – that has been concealed because it contains a different set of provisions. Such conspiratorial claims are easily dispelled.</p>
<p>The text of the Littlewood Treaty is known and it is merely a handwritten copy of the actual Treaty. And, most obviously, it cannot be regarded as a treaty on the basis that no one signed it.</p>
<p>Another popular myth is that there is a fourth article of the Treaty, which purportedly guarantees religious freedom. This article <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/meaning-of-the-treaty/">does not appear</a> in either the Māori or English texts of the Treaty, and there is no evidence the signatories regarded it as a provision of the agreement. It is a suggestion that emerged in the 1990s, but lacks any evidential or legal basis.</p>
<p>Finally, there is the argument that the Treaty <a href="https://theconversation.com/waitangi-2024-how-the-treaty-strengthens-democracy-and-provides-a-check-on-unbridled-power-221723">supports the democratic process</a>. In fact, the Treaty ushered in a non-representative regime in the colony. It was the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/proclamation-of-1852-constitution-act">1852 New Zealand Constitution Act</a> that gave the country a democratic government – a statute that incidentally made no reference to the Treaty’s provisions.</p>
<p>This list is not exhaustive. But in dispensing with areas of poor interpretation, we can improve the chances of a more informed and productive discussion about the Treaty.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-idea-of-sovereignty-is-central-to-the-treaty-debate-why-is-it-so-hard-to-define-220201">The idea of ‘sovereignty’ is central to the Treaty debate – why is it so hard to define?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Moon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Decades of Treaty scholarship have failed to arrive at a consensus about its meaning and purpose. Dispensing with various mistaken interpretations would improve the chances of productive discussion.Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202012024-01-30T17:42:17Z2024-01-30T17:42:17ZThe idea of ‘sovereignty’ is central to the Treaty debate – why is it so hard to define?<p>The coalition government’s approach to <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-the-treaty-of-waitangi/print">Te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> (Treaty of Waitangi) will inevitably set the scene for Waitangi Day next week, with the ACT Party’s <a href="https://www.act.org.nz/defining-the-treaty-principles">Treaty Principles Bill</a> already generating protest and <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350157533/three-headed-taniwha-government-enemy-maori-ratana-criticism-should-give-pm">ill will</a>. </p>
<p>But ACT’s initiative, even if ill-conceived, could still open up a widened debate that is long overdue.</p>
<p>The current Treaty “<a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/WT-Principles-of-the-Treaty-of-Waitangi-as-expressed-by-the-Courts-and-the-Waitangi-Tribunal.pdf">principles</a>” were devised by the <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/">Waitangi Tribunal</a> and the courts, and are based on interpretations of both English and Māori texts. ACT’s draft bill would rewrite the principles according to the English text only – or, at best, on a shallow reading of the Māori. </p>
<p>On the other far side of the debate, Māori “decolonialists” would simply abandon the principles, and advocate a return to their interpretation of the Māori text of Te Tiriti.</p>
<p>The decolonialists are correct on two key points: the Māori text is the original text and has the standing in international law; and the principles derived from both texts are problematic. </p>
<p>However, the decolonialists say Māori did not cede sovereignty in Te Tiriti, only the right for the Crown to govern non-Māori. They then revert back to a poorly defined Treaty principle in calling for an “equal partnership” that would constitutionally entrench a Māori parliament deep in the political process. </p>
<p>I argue against such a major constitutional change. If Māori did not explicitly cede sovereignty in 1840, neither did they fully retain it. Sovereignty is already being shared. </p>
<p>Because te Tiriti was between the Crown and <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/tribal-organisation/page-1">iwi and hapū</a>, demands for their greater self-determination can and are being addressed within our current constitution.</p>
<h2>Complete government forever</h2>
<p>Like ACT’s bill, the decolonial interpretation of Te Tiriti is both shallow and partial. It relies on a narrow legalistic interpretation of the concept of sovereignty, albeit one that is shared by <a href="https://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/">Crown Law</a> and much of the legal establishment. </p>
<p>The alleged lack of cession of sovereignty has been widely recognised by historians and legal experts for many years. Yet the late <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6k2/kawharu-ian-hugh">Hugh Kawharu</a>’s authoritative translation of the key text of Te Tiriti says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The chiefs […] give absolutely to the Queen of England for ever the complete government over their land. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To a commonsense reader, “complete government for ever” might seem to mean “sovereignty”. However, as Kawhuru pointed out, at the time Māori had no experience or cultural understanding of the concept.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, “complete government” was not without meaning to Māori. Many had knowledge of the government of New South Wales, and some had even visited Britain. Māori accepted the Crown would govern settlers under British law.</p>
<p>Māori also accepted the Crown would “protect” them. In <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/translation-of-te-reo-maori-text/">Kawhuru’s translation</a>, that protection was for “the unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages, and treasures”, and over “all ordinary people of New Zealand”, who would have “the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England”.</p>
<p>Kawharu also noted that “chieftainship” was based on limited authority and is best understood as “trusteeship”. By implication, then, chieftainship did not mean sovereignty. This idea was simply not in the Māori conceptual toolbox at the time.</p>
<p>An Indigenous people had agreed that an immigrant people could come to their land and be governed, not by Indigenous authorities, but by an immigrant government. </p>
<p>The Indigenous people also agreed that the immigrant government had a duty of protection over them: not just over the authority of their chiefs, but also over the “ordinary people”. </p>
<p>Such protection would require action to prevent tribal warfare and end slavery. It stretches credibility to interpret these agreements as meaning Māori signatories of Te Tiriti retained “absolute sovereignty”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Secular sovereignty</h2>
<p>Why is interpretation of Te Tiriti so subject to debate? One answer is that we are confused by misunderstanding of the concept of “sovereignty”. </p>
<p>It is a word and idea with big connotations. Traditionally it was drawn from the power of monarchies, the authority of which was said to be derived from God. The Crown was held by a single person. </p>
<p>In Māori terms it has been retrospectively interpreted as “<a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?keywords=mana">mana</a>”, another concept with big emotional resonance. In 2013, when arguing the <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/13-11-2019/an-insiders-guide-to-the-ngapuhi-settlement">Ngāpui claim</a> at the Waitangi Tribunal, Crown Law defined sovereignty as meaning “absolute and undivided power to make law”. </p>
<p>But this legal interpretation is incomplete. Making law is but one part of sovereignty, and not necessarily the most important one.</p>
<p>Secular understanding of the concept of sovereignty emerged after disastrous civil wars in England and France, and devastating wars throughout Europe. </p>
<p>In England, a king was executed and a republic temporarily established. There was much fear, uncertainty and insecurity. Secular sovereignty is rooted in a belief in the need for a government that can preserve peace and order and thus protect its citizens. </p>
<p>That government must also be able to defend its borders and protect against foreign incursion. There can be little doubt Māori ceded those protective aspects of sovereignty to the Crown in 1840.</p>
<p>However, in Article Two of Te Tiriti, Māori retained the continuation of chiefly authority over their peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="fragment of Te Tiriti" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571539/original/file-20240125-17-upvr3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fragment of Te Tiriti signed at Waitangi in 1840.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sovereignty of the people</h2>
<p>Some legal historians now argue that at the time of the signing of Te Tiriti in 1840, the British Colonial Office understood British sovereignty to be consistent with a pluralistic recognition of persisting Indigenous political and legal authorities. In other words, sovereignty could be shared. </p>
<p>But an abstract, absolute and undivided legal understanding of sovereignty was soon imposed, and Te Tiriti ignored.</p>
<p>Yet during the 20th century the tide turned. Changes in the meaning of sovereignty under democratic government have recovered its pluralist interpretation. Meanwhile, governments’ protective powers have also grown. They have acquired responsibilities to protect people’s health and welfare in ways few would have anticipated in 1840. </p>
<p>Lawyers continue to describe parliament as sovereign or “supreme” and to speak of “the Crown” as a legal entity. In political terms, the Crown is a useful fiction that sums up a much more complex set of phenomena. It is a symbol of sovereignty, not its reality. </p>
<p>In a democracy, sovereignty is sourced in “the people”. Like everyone else, Māori vote in elections and elect MPs and are therefore part of the Crown: the sovereign people. </p>
<p>The authority of “the people” is transferred to representatives who make decisions for them. Those representatives transfer authority to a cabinet and prime minister. Further authority is transferred into the public service – and beyond it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/maori-atheism-on-the-rise-the-legacy-of-colonisation-is-driving-a-decline-in-traditional-christian-beliefs-214701">Māori atheism on the rise: the legacy of colonisation is driving a decline in traditional Christian beliefs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The key to understanding sovereignty is simply this: there is no one consistent “particular place” where decisions with the force of sovereignty are always made. </p>
<p>Between elections, parliament may be supreme in terms of lawmaking, but parliament is subject to election every three years. In a democracy the people are the source of sovereignty but delegate its power to others. And the extent of popular sovereignty may be limited in particular ways by constitutions or treaties – like Te Tiriti o Waitangi.</p>
<p>Sovereignty is effective where, at any one place or time, a binding decision is made within an entire system of government. Sovereignty cannot be divided, because such division would inevitably result in conflict that would often fail to be resolved. </p>
<p>However, sovereignty can be passed around and shared. Sovereignty is not only found in a prime minister’s office or in cabinet. Sovereignty is found in many places, at different times: or at the same time in many places, when multiple choices are being made by different actors about various different things. </p>
<p>So long as those choices are recognised as decisive at that time, and on that matter, there is no paralysis or divided authority. Although, of course, they may be challenged later by other arms of government, such as in the courts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-indigenous-reconciliation-efforts-show-having-a-treaty-isnt-enough-49890">New Zealand's indigenous reconciliation efforts show having a treaty isn't enough</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Te Tiriti and the constitution</h2>
<p>Sovereignty is found in the legislation passed by parliament, but also in the way the courts interpret that legislation. It is found in the decisions made by the police to prosecute or not prosecute, and in the ways the police choose to use their powers, because the police are not subject to direct ministerial control. </p>
<p>It is found in the policy and administrative decisions made throughout the machinery of government within the framework of legislation, and in non-governmental organisations that have been delegated to run government programmes. </p>
<p>It is found where any private individual or organisation can use powers made effective by legislation and delegations of authority, such as the ability of a private company to issue a parking fine. </p>
<p>Sovereignty lies behind the ways in which individuals and groups can claim ownership and control of resources, as it is “the Crown” that recognises and protects property rights.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-to-live-with-the-messy-complicated-history-of-how-aotearoa-new-zealand-was-colonised-172219">Learning to live with the 'messy, complicated history' of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some claim that elections based on popular sovereignty and majority rule ignore the rights of minorities. But others argue that in a representative democracy minority rule is a bigger problem than majority rule. </p>
<p>Majority votes in elections are modified and constrained by deliberation in parliament, including public submissions that can bring minority concerns to the table, as well as the influential lobbying of special interests.</p>
<p>The interpretation and application of law may be challenged in the courts, where interpretations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi may also be brought to bear.</p>
<p>The institutions of government in Aotearoa New Zealand have evolved since 1840 and in the process have been fundamentally transformed. Because we do not have a formal constitution, our institutions have adapted to changing needs and demands. </p>
<p>If we can more clearly accept, define and clarify its constraints on popular sovereignty, Te Tiriti’s promise that Māori iwi and hapū should govern themselves as much as is possible can be addressed under our existing constitution, and can be accommodated within its liberal democratic principles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Vowles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If Māori did not explicitly cede sovereignty in 1840, neither did they fully retain it. If sovereignty is already being shared, where does Te Tiriti o Waitangi sit within our unwritten constitution?Jack Vowles, Professor of Political Science, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217232024-01-23T17:50:38Z2024-01-23T17:50:38ZWaitangi 2024: how the Treaty strengthens democracy and provides a check on unbridled power<p>The ACT Party’s election promise of a referendum to redefine and enshrine the “principles” of the Treaty of Waitangi is likely to dominate debate at this year’s <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/23/why-ratana-is-an-important-date-on-the-political-calendar/">Rātana</a> and Waitangi Day events. </p>
<p>ACT’s <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nzfirst/pages/4462/attachments/original/1700784896/National___NZF_Coalition_Agreement_signed_-_24_Nov_2023.pdf">coalition agreement</a> with the National Party commits the government to supporting a Treaty Principles Bill for select committee consideration. The bill may not make it into law, but the idea is raising considerable alarm.</p>
<p>Leaked <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507090/government-confirms-leaked-document-was-a-ministry-treaty-principles-bill-memo">draft advice</a> to Cabinet from the Ministry of Justice says the principles should be defined in legislation because “their importance requires there be certainty and clarity about their meaning”. The advice also says ACT’s proposal will:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>change the nature of the principles from reflecting a relationship akin to a partnership between the Crown and Māori to reflecting the relationship the Crown has with all citizens of New Zealand. This is not supported by either the spirit of the Treaty or the text of the Treaty.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Setting aside arguments that the notion of “partnership” diminishes self-determination, the 10,000 people attending a <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/507161/in-photos-hui-aa-iwi-at-tuurangawaewae-marae">meeting</a> last weekend called by <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/27167/king-tuheitia">King Tūheitia</a> were motivated by the prospect of the Treaty being diminished.</p>
<h2>Do we need Treaty principles?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/o-matou-mohiotanga/crownmaori-relations/he-tirohanga-o-kawa-ki-te-tiriti-o-waitangi">Treaty principles</a> were developed and elaborated by parliaments, courts and the Waitangi Tribunal over more than 50 years to guide policy implementation and mediate tensions between the Māori and English texts of the document.</p>
<p>The Māori text, which more than 500 rangatira (chiefs) signed, conferred the right to establish government on the British Crown. The English text conferred absolute sovereignty; 39 rangatira signed this text after having it explained in Māori, a language that has <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-Treaty/differences-between-the-texts">no concept of sovereignty</a> as a political and legal authority to be given away.</p>
<p>Because the English text wasn’t widely signed, there is a view that it holds no influential standing, and that perhaps there isn’t a tension to mediate. Former chief justice <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/korero/interview-with-dame-sian-elias">Sian Elias has said</a> “it can’t be disputed that the Treaty is actually the Māori text”.</p>
<p>On Saturday, <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/20/be-maori-kiingi-tuuheitia-gives-closing-speech-at-national-hui/">Tūheitia said</a>: “There’s no principles, the Treaty is written, that’s it.” This view is supported by arguments that the principles are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14687968211047902">reductionist</a> and take attention away from the substance of <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/translation-of-te-reo-maori-text/">Te Tiriti’s articles</a>: the Crown may establish government; Māori may retain authority over their own affairs and enjoy citizenship of the state in ways that reflect equal tikanga (cultural values).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-redefining-the-treaty-principles-would-undermine-real-political-equality-in-nz-218511">Why redefining the Treaty principles would undermine real political equality in NZ</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Democratic or undemocratic?</h2>
<p>The ACT Party says this is undemocratic because it gives Māori a privileged voice in public decision making. Of the previous government, <a href="https://www.act.org.nz/defining-the-treaty-principles">ACT has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Labour is trying to make New Zealand an unequal society on purpose. It believes there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata Whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Liberal democracy was not the form of government Britain established in 1840. There’s even an <a href="https://nwo.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MatikeMaiAotearoa25Jan16.pdf">argument</a> that state government doesn’t concern Māori. The Crown exercises government only over “<a href="https://nwo.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MatikeMaiAotearoa25Jan16.pdf">its people</a>” – settlers and their descendants. Māori political authority is found in tino rangatiratanga and through shared decision making on matters of common interest.</p>
<p>Tino rangatiratanga <a href="https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/65738/2021%20Mutu%20Mana%20Sovereignty%20for%20Routledge%20Handbook%20of%20Critical%20Indigenous%20Studies.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">has been defined</a> as “the exercise of ultimate and paramount power and authority”. In practice, like all power, this is relative and relational to the power of others, and constrained by circumstances beyond human control.</p>
<p>But the power of others has to be fair and reasonable, and rangatiratanga requires freedom from arbitrary interference by the state. That way, authority and responsibility may be exercised, and independence upheld, in relation to Māori people’s own affairs and resources.</p>
<h2>Assertions of rangatiratanga</h2>
<p>Social integration – especially through intermarriage, economic interdependence and economies of scale – makes a rigid “them and us” binary an unlikely path to a better life for anybody.</p>
<p>However, rangatiratanga might be found in Tūheitia’s advice about the best form of protest against rewriting the Treaty principles to diminish the Treaty itself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo (language), care for our mokopuna (children), our awa (rivers), our maunga (mountains), just be Māori. Māori all day, every day.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-kingitanga-movement-160-years-of-maori-monarchy-102029">The kīngitanga movement: 160 years of Māori monarchy</a>
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<p>As the government <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nationalparty/pages/18466/attachments/original/1700778597/NZFirst_Agreement_2.pdf?1700778597">introduces measures</a> to reduce the use of te reo Māori in public life, repeal child care and protection legislation that promotes Māori leadership and responsibility, and repeal <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-repeal-three-waters-legislation">water management legislation</a> that ensures Māori participation, Tūheitia’s words are all assertions of rangatiratanga.</p>
<p>Those government policies sit alongside the proposed Treaty Principles Bill to diminish Māori opportunities to be Māori in public life. For the ACT Party, this is necessary to protect democratic equality.</p>
<p>In effect, the proposed bill says that to be equal, Māori people can’t contribute to public decisions with reference to their own culture. As anthropologist <a href="https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/12/15/anne-salmond-on-the-treaty-debate-maori-and-pakeha-think-differently/">Anne Salmond has written</a>, this means the state cannot admit there are “reasonable people who reason differently”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-te-tiriti-at-the-centre-of-aotearoa-new-zealands-public-policy-can-strengthen-democracy-heres-how-180305">Putting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here's how</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Liberal democracy and freedom</h2>
<p>Equality through sameness is a false equality that liberal democracy is well-equipped to contest. Liberal democracy did not emerge to suppress difference. It is concerned with much more than counting votes to see who wins on election day.</p>
<p>Liberal democracy is a political system intended to manage fair and reasonable differences in an orderly way. This means it doesn’t concentrate power in one place. It’s not a select few exercising sovereignty as the absolute and indivisible power to tell everybody else what to do.</p>
<p>This is because one of its ultimate purposes is to protect people’s freedom – the freedom to be Māori as much as the freedom to be <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?keywords=pakeha">Pakeha</a>. If we want it to, democracy may help all and not just some of us to protect our freedom through our different ways of reasoning.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-parties-two-deals-one-government-the-stress-points-within-new-zealands-coalition-of-many-colours-217673">Three parties, two deals, one government: the stress points within New Zealand's 'coalition of many colours'</a>
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<p>Freedom is protected by checks and balances on power. Parliament checks the powers of government. Citizens, including Māori citizens with equality of <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=tikanga">tikanga</a>, check the powers of parliament.</p>
<p>One of the ways this happens is through the distribution of power from the centre – to local governments, school boards and non-governmental providers of public services. This includes Māori health providers whose work was intended to be supported by the Māori Health Authority, which the government also intends to disestablish.</p>
<p>The rights of hapū (kinship groups), as the political communities whose representatives signed Te Tiriti, mean that rangatiratanga, too, checks and balances the concentration of power in the hands of a few.</p>
<p>Checking and balancing the powers of government requires the contribution of all and not just some citizens. When they do so in their own ways, and according to their own modes of reasoning, citizens contribute to democratic contest – not as a divisive activity, but to protect the common good from the accumulation of power for some people’s use in the domination of others.</p>
<p>Te Tiriti supports this democratic process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill assumes Māori have been granted special privileges. But it can equally be argued the Treaty prevents the undemocratic concentration of power in the hands of a few.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185112023-11-27T01:50:03Z2023-11-27T01:50:03ZWhy redefining the Treaty principles would undermine real political equality in NZ<p>All three parties in New Zealand’s new coalition government went into the election promising to diminish various Māori-based policies or programs. But it was the ACT Party that went furthest, <a href="https://www.act.org.nz/act_proposes_referendum_on_co_governance">calling for a referendum</a> to redefine the “<a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/WT-Principles-of-the-Treaty-of-Waitangi-as-expressed-by-the-Courts-and-the-Waitangi-Tribunal.pdf">principles</a>” of <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-brief">te Tiriti o Waitangi</a>/Treaty of Waitangi.</p>
<p>The referendum didn’t make it into the <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nationalparty/pages/18466/attachments/original/1700778592/National_ACT_Agreement.pdf?1700778592">coalition agreement</a>, but National and New Zealand First
have agreed to a Treaty Principles Bill going to a select committee for further consideration.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nationalparty/pages/18466/attachments/original/1700778597/NZFirst_Agreement_2.pdf?1700778597">NZ First</a> negotiated a review of all legislation referring to the Treaty principles and to “replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty, or repeal the references”.</p>
<p>These proposals are significant because they would reverse a decades-long bipartisan trend towards increasing the Treaty/te Tiriti’s influence in public life. </p>
<h2>The Treaty and its principles</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561722/original/file-20231127-23-bl6p5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fragement of one copy of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Archives New Zealand via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the past 50 years, the treaty/tiriti principles have been developed by parliament, the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal. The principles include partnership, reciprocity, mutual benefit, active protection of Māori interests, and redress for past wrongs. </p>
<p>ACT argues that these principles give people “different political rights based on birth”, meaning Māori have a bigger say in political decisions, and that this affronts political equality.</p>
<p>Others have argued the principles <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14687968211047902">overshadow the substance</a> of te Tiriti, meaning Māori have less say, and that this is actually where inequality lies. This in turn explains why, for example, <a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2022-12/ap22-02.pdf">Māori die</a> an average six to seven years younger than other people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-parties-two-deals-one-government-the-stress-points-within-new-zealands-coalition-of-many-colours-217673">Three parties, two deals, one government: the stress points within New Zealand's 'coalition of many colours'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/translation-of-te-reo-maori-text/">te Tiriti</a> was presented to Māori chiefs (rangatira) in 1840 by the Anglican missionary Henry Williams, he <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/8768416/20188postpub.pdf">stressed</a> the protection of Maori authority over their own affairs was a serious and unbreakable promise. </p>
<p>Most importantly for the current debate, people were given reasons to believe the government would not interfere with a Māori right to <em>be</em> Māori. </p>
<p>Specifically, the British Crown would establish a government (Article 1 of te Tiriti). Māori would enjoy tino rangatiratanga over their own affairs (Article 2) – the inherent authority to make decisions, not the government’s gift to take away as it pleased. </p>
<p>Māori would also enjoy the rights and privileges of British subjects (Article 3), and there would be “equality of tikanga” (cultural equality). By now, “subjecthood” has come to mean New Zealand citizenship, and the concept continues to evolve. </p>
<h2>Political equality requires cultural equality</h2>
<p>ACT’s alternative principles do not use the language developed to deal with te Tiriti’s/the Treaty’s meaning over the past 50 years. They state:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties.</p></li>
<li><p>All political authority comes from the people by democratic means including universal suffrage, regular and free elections with a secret ballot.</p></li>
<li><p>New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These could be interpreted to support the idea that cultural equality means Māori people are allowed to <em>be</em> Maori when they participate in public life. But ACT’s election campaign rhetoric, and the coalition government agreements, suggest the opposite intent.</p>
<p>The plan to abolish the <a href="https://www.futureofhealth.govt.nz/maori-health-authority/">Māori Health Authority</a> is an example. It was established in 2022 to ensure Māori experts could make decisions about funding and providing Māori primary health services. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-te-tiriti-at-the-centre-of-aotearoa-new-zealands-public-policy-can-strengthen-democracy-heres-how-180305">Putting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here's how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This was based on findings by both <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/report-on-stage-one-of-health-services-and-outcomes-released/">Waitangi Tribunal</a> and parliamentary <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/committees-press-releases/the-m%C4%81ori-affairs-committee-completes-its-inquiry-into-health-inequities-for-m%C4%81ori/">select committee inquiries</a> that health policies were failing Māori – partly because there was no sufficient mechanism for Māori to systematically contribute to decisions about services and delivery.</p>
<p>Health services will remain universally available. But it’s not clear they are intended to work equally well for everybody, given the government has provided no alternative to address the policy void the Māori Health Authority was intended to fill.</p>
<p>In other words, there’s no space for specific Māori leadership in making decisions about what works and why, and what should be funded as Māori primary health services. Māori culture won’t count in decision making. </p>
<p>Diminishing that cultural perspective means democratic equality is, in effect, conditional on not bringing a Māori perspective to public life.</p>
<h2>Policy that works equally well for Maori</h2>
<p>Equality means every citizen should expect a policy to work for them as well is it works for anybody else. Te Tiriti may help achieve that. But without it, there may be a gap between the language of equality and the policy intent.</p>
<p>For example, the government plans to repeal the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0024/latest/whole.html">Treaty section</a> of the law governing Oranga Tamariki, the state’s child care and protection agency. This section says te Tiriti requires Oranga Tamariki to recognise the cultural backgrounds of Māori children in its care. </p>
<p>Oranga Tamariki must also recognise it’s also the job of Māori families, iwi, hapu and other agencies to support Maori children who need care and protection.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-kohanga-reo-generation-and-how-could-they-change-maori-and-mainstream-politics-215694">Who are the 'kōhanga reo generation' and how could they change Māori and mainstream politics?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There’s nothing in this section to support ACT’s election campaign statement that the previous government’s Treaty policies contributed to an “unequal society [where] there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata Whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here”. </p>
<p>This section says no more than that Māori people should expect state care and protection policies to work for them. Yet it is the only section of any legislation the government is explicitly committed to repealing. </p>
<p>To avoid doubt, and affirm the substantive equality of all people, the government could simply replace references to the Treaty with the words: “This Act will be applied to work equally well for Māori as for all other citizens.” After all, if this is not the intent of any law, then equality <em>per se</em> is not its intent either.</p>
<h2>Political authority and people</h2>
<p>ACT’s second proposed principle states that “all political authority comes from the people”. But as I argue in my recent book <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-33-4172-2">Sharing the Sovereign</a>, that means <em>all</em> people must be able to express that authority in ways that are personally meaningful. </p>
<p>People’s actual experience of the democratic system must give them reasons to believe it works as well for them as for anyone else. Those reasons cannot arise –for anyone – in a cultural void. </p>
<p>We all think and reason about what governments should do, and what they should leave for others, through a cultural lens. If some people may only participate in public life through a cultural lens someone else has imposed, then they are not among the people from whom “all political authority comes”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ACT Party claims revisiting the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi is about political equality. But removing a Māori cultural dimension to New Zealand’s democracy would have an opposite effect.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101232023-07-26T02:13:55Z2023-07-26T02:13:55ZNew Zealand’s maritime territory is 15 times its landmass – here’s why we need a ministry for the ocean<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539131/original/file-20230725-29-xd6rpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C89%2C5991%2C3772&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash/Rod Long</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent failure of the proposed <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018894688/where-to-next-for-a-kermadec-ocean-sanctuary">Kermadec ocean sanctuary</a> is a striking reminder of the need for leadership around New Zealand’s ocean policies.</p>
<p>The “no take” ocean sanctuary was meant to be one of the world’s largest marine protected areas. But last month Te Ohu Kaimoana (which represents Māori fisheries interests) voted against the latest proposal.</p>
<p>Their opposition was on the <a href="https://teohu.maori.nz/media-release-iwi-strongly-reject-crowns-kermadec-ocean-sanctuary-proposal/">basis</a> that the government hadn’t consulted iwi, and the proposal would extinguish iwi rights guaranteed in the <a href="https://www.govt.nz/assets/Documents/OTS/Fisheries-settlement/Fisheries-Deed-of-Settlement-23-Sept-1992.pdf">1992 Fisheries Deed of Settlement</a> and the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2004/0078/latest/DLM311464.html">Māori Fisheries Act</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1670545036055048192"}"></div></p>
<p>The government <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/statutory-and-advisory-bodies/nz-conservation-authority/nzca-media-releases/the-kermadec-islands-new-tools-for-marine-protection-urgently-needed/">response</a> was an admission that our marine policy is not working as it should, and that we need new marine protection tools consistent with te ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00908320.2023.2224116">new research</a> suggests a different approach to how New Zealand manages competing uses of the marine environment. </p>
<p>It highlights opportunities to align marine policy and its implementation more closely by considering the ocean as an ecosystem with which people have reciprocal relationships. </p>
<h2>New Zealand’s vast ocean territory</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A map showing New Zealand's ocean territory" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539126/original/file-20230725-29-qc020l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Zealand’s ocean territory spans from the Kermadec Islands in the north to the subantarctic Campbell Island in the south.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NIWA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aotearoa is surrounded by a sea territory <a href="https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/marine/new-zealands-marine-biodiversity/">15 times</a> the size of its landmass. This extends from the shorelines of the main islands to the Kermadecs (Rangitāhua) in the northwest, the Chathams (Rēkohu) in the east and the subantarctic Campbell Island in the south Pacific ocean. </p>
<p>Two in three New Zealanders live within 5km of the shore and many use the ocean and coasts for recreational and cultural activities. The <a href="https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/assets/dms/Measuring-New-Zealands-blue-economy/Measuring20New20Zelands20Blue20Economy202019_Final.pdf">blue economy</a> provides significant income to New Zealand, including through commercial fisheries, offshore minerals, ports and marinas, maritime transport and coastal tourism. </p>
<p>The Hauraki Gulf alone was recently valued as a <a href="https://gulfjournal.org.nz/2023/07/natural-capital-valuation/">NZ$100 billion natural capital asset</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tourist taking a photograph of a dolphin from a boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539135/original/file-20230725-29-wsc3zy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two thirds of New Zealanders live within 5km of the coast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash/Simon Infanger</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Marine and coastal ecosystems are <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/publications/our-marine-environment-2022/">threatened</a> by climate change, as oceans are acidifying, sea levels rising and sea-surface temperatures increasing. But they are also our best line of defence in buffering extreme events, filtering land runoff and storing “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00380/full?fbclid=IwAR3K2ipKyC79eoa9Gloo4AhYOITo0Ks9HqWnyGa09_g6f7EjakkHtcX_c6k">blue carbon</a>”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-carbon-could-a-solution-to-the-climate-challenge-be-buried-in-the-depths-of-fiords-205639">Blue carbon: could a solution to the climate challenge be buried in the depths of fiords?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Māori have cared for their seascapes for generations and have a complex set of reciprocal marine relationships, including protected fishing rights and interests. </p>
<p>But our marine environment is under <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-oceans-are-in-deep-trouble-a-mountains-to-sea-approach-could-make-a-real-difference-207116">immense strain</a>. Recent <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/Our-marine-environment-2022.pdf">reports</a> highlight a significant decline in marine ecological health, with flow-on impacts for communities. </p>
<p>The range of complex relationships New Zealanders have with the ocean can be difficult to reconcile, especially against an historical context of repeated Crown failures to respect and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4217">uphold the rangatiratanga</a> held by iwi and hapū over oceans and fisheries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indigenous-knowledge-should-be-an-essential-part-of-how-we-govern-the-worlds-oceans-161649">Why Indigenous knowledge should be an essential part of how we govern the world's oceans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An ecosystem approach to marine policy</h2>
<p>New Zealand’s marine policies are currently dispersed across multiple pieces of <a href="https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/tools-and-resources/aotearoa-new-zealands-key-marine-legislation/">legislation</a> and regulatory institutions. They may be working towards different, and sometimes competing, objectives and at <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569122001703">various time and geographical scales</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="This graphic shows New Zealand's key marine laws and their legislative areas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538868/original/file-20230724-141931-yn1uxy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Zealand’s ocean policies are scattered among several pieces of legislation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sustainable Seas national science challenge</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research conducted within the <a href="https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/">Sustainable Seas national science challenge</a> looks at <a href="https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/news-and-events/news/developing-ecosystem-based-management-principles-for-nz/">ecosystem-based management</a>. This involves managing the marine environment in a way that reconciles competing values without degrading the ocean ecosystem. It also recognises that humans are part of the ecosystem. </p>
<p>A more holistic and relational <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X2100172X">ecosystem-based approach</a> to managing human activities in the ocean would acknowledge the inter-dependencies between living and non-living marine ecosystem components, including people. </p>
<p>It would move away from siloed or single-sector approaches to instead managing relationships and the cumulative impacts of multiple activities in a way that is flexible and adapts to climate change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-oceans-are-in-deep-trouble-a-mountains-to-sea-approach-could-make-a-real-difference-207116">Our oceans are in deep trouble – a 'mountains to sea' approach could make a real difference</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fundamental principles driving oceans policy</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00908320.2023.2224116">research</a> found we already have legal and policy “hooks” (or promising reform initiatives underway) that can support ecosystem-based management across the four key marine policy areas of fisheries, conservation, coastal planning and Māori rights and interests. But these are not always well <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00908320.2023.2224116">integrated or aligned</a>. </p>
<p>For example, regional councils are responsible for the coastal marine area under the Resource Management Act (which is currently under reform), but the Ministry of Primary Industries is responsible for the regulation and allocation of fishing rights under the Fisheries Act. </p>
<p>Oceans protection is largely the responsibility of the Department of Conservation, while Māori rights and interests are held by iwi and hapū, subject to a wide range of legal regimes and regulation. Each of these policy areas operates on different time and geographic scales and is working towards (sometimes vastly) different policy objectives, with varying budgets and resources.</p>
<p>To overcome this, our research confirmed we need to agree on fundamental marine principles to “anchor” ecosystem-based management and ensure our policy objectives are complementary and consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We also need to resource this transition – which requires whole-of-government leadership and coordination. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a coastal section" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539136/original/file-20230725-29-g2ab6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recent law reforms have focused on land-based issues, overlooking the interconnected threats facing the ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash/Look up look down photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A ministry for the ocean</h2>
<p>The current government created a new <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-new-zealand-marine-sciences-society">ministerial portfolio of oceans and fisheries</a>. This doesn’t go far enough. </p>
<p>Marine policy is still spread across multiple laws and institutions working for different purposes. Recent <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/what-government-is-doing/areas-of-work/rma/resource-management-system-reform/">environmental reforms</a> have focused on land-based issues of resource management, conservation and climate adaptation, taking a sector-by-sector approach and overlooking the interconnected threats facing our ocean.</p>
<p>Many have <a href="https://eds.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/EDS_The-Breaking-Wave.pdf">argued</a> we need an <a href="https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2020/oceans-policy-needed-to-protect-7-billion-environment--law-professor.html">oceans agency</a> to support cross-sectoral collaboration and hold the government to account for implementing the rule of law. </p>
<p>We go further and argue Aotearoa needs a ministry for the ocean to match the ministerial portfolio, reflecting the complexity of marine management and departing from the <a href="https://www.sustainableseaschallenge.co.nz/assets/dms/Summaries/Designing-law-and-policy-for-the-health-and-resilience-of-marine-and-coastal-ecosystems/Summary-Designing-law-and-policy-for-the-health-and-resilience-of-marine-and-coastal-ecosystems.pdf">terrestrial bias of our existing laws and institutions</a>. A dedicated ministry could ensure oversight, coordination and alignment of marine policy. </p>
<p>Designing policy and creating institutional arrangements to support ecosystem-based management at central government level is only the beginning. This must also be the catalyst to drive, resource and enable connectivity in governance and management across all levels, to every bay and estuary.</p>
<p>It’s clear the journey for the Kermadec sanctuary is far from over. Te Ohu Kaimoana have <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teohukaimoana/videos/292177866520551/">proposed</a> an iwi-led Indigenous approach to environmental management – or, as they put it, a relationship with people and nature together, not separated. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see how this process evolves and whether it might lead to new marine protection tools that reflect our relationships with the ocean for generations to come.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>We would like to acknowledge the contribution by Eric Jorgensen, a co-leader of the Sustainable Seas project.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210123/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Macpherson receives funding from the Sustainable Seas National Science Challlenge. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Fisher receives funding from the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge.</span></em></p>New Zealand’s marine policies are scattered across multiple laws and regulatory institutions. A dedicated ministry would overcome this fragmentation and help protect vital ecosystems and resources.Elizabeth Macpherson, Associate Professor of Law, University of CanterburyKaren Fisher, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059162023-06-26T19:38:51Z2023-06-26T19:38:51ZDecolonising the news: 4 fundamental questions media can ask themselves when covering stories about Māori<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533905/original/file-20230626-160496-owci8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C8%2C5447%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A hikoi (march) to deliver a petition to the prime minister over the Ihumātao land protest in Auckland in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is little evidence to suggest Aotearoa New Zealand’s mainstream news media critically evaluate their own reporting on issues about or affecting Māori and te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi). This is concerning, given the <a href="https://trc.org.nz/research-about-media-and-te-tiriti">negative framing</a> of so much coverage, past and present.</p>
<p>The one exception to this general ambivalence has been the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/our-truth/123533668/our-truth-t-mtou-pono-stuff-introduces-new-treaty-of-waitangi-based-charter-following-historic-apology">groundbreaking apology</a> in 2020 by digital and print news organisation Stuff for a long history of monocultural and Eurocentric bias.</p>
<p>Informed by our research on how news about Māori and te Tiriti is <a href="https://trc.org.nz/research-about-media-and-te-tiriti">often constructed</a>, Stuff looked back at its legacy mastheads and found stories that ranged from “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/30/new-zealand-media-giant-stuff-apologises-for-racist-past-reporting">blinkered to racist</a>”. It pledged to change and improve to reflect a commitment to Māori audiences and the principles of te Tiriti. </p>
<p>To date, no other media organisation has attempted to evaluate its reporting in this way – or, in fact, acknowledge this might be necessary. But media funding agency New Zealand on Air now offers a <a href="https://d3r9t6niqlb7tz.cloudfront.net/media/documents/2022_03_Irirangi_te_Motu_NZ_on_Air_Te_Tiriti_framework_only_for_News_Media.pdf">Tiriti Framework For News Media</a>, also based on our research, to guide organisations applying to its <a href="https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/funding/journalism-funding/">public interest journalism fund</a>.</p>
<p>It is hoped the framework will help media organisations develop strategies that promote more accountable and equitable practices in their day-to-day reporting and commentary.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1333111903502024704"}"></div></p>
<h2>Colonial and settler narratives</h2>
<p>The initiative is important because news is not some objective truth waiting to be reported. It is constructed through the lenses of news teams – and particularly senior journalists and editors – who are <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/our-truth/300174142/our-truth-t-mtou-pono-newsrooms-need-to-reflect-the-voices-of-society-not-the-bias-of-their-news-bosses?rm=a">predominantly Pākehā</a>. </p>
<p>The types of stories that are told, and the way people and subjects are represented, involve deliberate choices. This frequently means few Māori stories are told. And when Māori are represented, they can be framed in limiting and negative ways.</p>
<p>Historically, this is common to news and media representations of Indigenous peoples everywhere. There is undoubtedly bias at work some of the time. But as <a href="https://trc.org.nz/sites/trc.org.nz/files/Mass-media-representations-indigenous-peoples%20.pdf">we have argued</a> previously, these “negative ‘stories’ and representations of Indigenous peoples are strategic; tactical necessities rather than aberrations”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-is-increasingly-valued-but-to-fully-respect-it-we-need-to-decolonise-science-heres-how-205097">Indigenous knowledge is increasingly valued, but to fully respect it we need to decolonise science – here's how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In other words, they “play important roles in the ongoing colonial project, enhancing the legitimisation and naturalisation of the institutions, practices, and priorities of the colonising state”. </p>
<p>Early European colonists in the South Pacific founded newspapers and published material to serve their interests, institutionalising their preferred social order and norms. For example, an <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/records/21891442">early handbook</a> from the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/new-zealand-company">New Zealand Company</a> in 1839 – “Information Relative to New Zealand, Compiled for the use of Colonists” – included some of the first representations of Māori as savage and lawless.</p>
<p>Settler newspapers recycled these themes from 1840 onwards. Variations of the same message persist to the present day. Recent research shows that in countries colonised by Britain, news <a href="https://trc.org.nz/sites/trc.org.nz/files/Mass-media-representations-indigenous-peoples%2520.pdf">consistently represents</a> Indigenous peoples as violent, primitive and untrustworthy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-decolonize-journalism-podcast-192467">How to decolonize journalism — Podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fundamental questions</h2>
<p>Contemporary coverage of Māori activism still routinely misinforms and fails to capture nuance. Reporting of the 2020 Ihumātao occupation, for example, frequently reduced internal tensions to a <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/19-12-2020/the-truth-about-ihumatao-all-the-false-claims-and-misinformation-corrected">clash between young and old</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly in Australia, the debate over the proposed <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/support-a-voice-to-parliament/">First Nations Voice to Parliament</a> has seen the spread of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-voice-isnt-apartheid-or-a-veto-over-parliament-this-misinformation-is-undermining-democratic-debate-205474">disinformation</a> attempting to equate the policy with apartheid. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is evidence that both <a href="https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/1564">journalists</a> and their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22041451.2023.2188693">audiences</a> want to see change. This is where the new media framework can make a difference. It provides detailed examples of more equitable news practices, and prompts news organisations to ask themselves several fundamental questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Commitment to te Tiriti: how do you enact responsibilities under <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/declaration-of-independence-taming-the-frontier">He Whakaputanga</a> and te Tiriti?</p></li>
<li><p>Societal accountabilities: how do you transform use of harmful, racist themes and narratives around Māori?</p></li>
<li><p>News media practices: who benefits from the kinds of stories you choose to tell?</p></li>
<li><p>Māori-controlled media: how do you represent diversity in Māori stories and in your own staffing?</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/included-but-still-marginalised-indigenous-voices-still-missing-in-media-stories-on-indigenous-affairs-163426">Included, but still marginalised: Indigenous voices still missing in media stories on Indigenous affairs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Challenge and opportunity</h2>
<p>We’ve seen some positive responses to the framework, as well as accusations that the Tiriti requirements of New Zealand on Air’s public interest journalism fund amount to “<a href="https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/how-government-funding-is-used-to-muzzle-mainstream-media">propaganda</a>” that muzzles mainstream media.</p>
<p>Either way, media organisations are now operating in an environment where profit models require innovation, with increasing competition from social media and changes in audience behaviours. </p>
<p>While this is challenging, it also offers an opportunity to transform journalism and improve newsroom practices. The Stuff and New Zealand on Air initiatives show how it’s possible to tackle harmful representations of Māori in mainstream news media.</p>
<p>Our framework could also be adapted to other sectors and settings where systemic bias and disadvantage are felt. For now, though, it is up to media organisations, funders and policymakers to decide how they will respond.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors acknowledge Dr Jenny Rankine and Dr Ray Nairn who were authors on Te Tiriti Framework For News Media and contributed to this article.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Moewaka Barnes was contracted by New Zealand On Air to develop the Tiriti Framework For News Media. She also receives funding from the Marsden Fund, administered by the Royal Society Te Aparangi.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Belinda Borell was contracted by New Zealand On Air to develop the Tiriti Framework For News Media.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim McCreanor was contracted by New Zealand On Air to develop the Tiriti Framework For News Media. He is a member of Stop Institutional Racism (STIR). </span></em></p>A Treaty framework developed for New Zealand On Air offers a way for journalists to critically evaluate their own work and promote more accountable and equitable day-to-day reporting.Angela Moewaka Barnes, Senior researcher, Massey UniversityBelinda Borell, Kairangahau, Massey UniversityTim McCreanor, Professor of Race Relations, Health and Wellbeing, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020382023-05-11T20:09:12Z2023-05-11T20:09:12ZHistory and myth: why the Treaty of Waitangi remains such a ‘bloody difficult subject’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524531/original/file-20230504-25-tkulgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6620%2C2060&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artist's impression of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Treaty of Waitangi, the influential historian Ruth Ross (1920-1982) remarked in 1972, is “a bloody difficult subject”. She should have known – she devoted most of her working life to trying to make sense of it, especially the text in te reo Māori. </p>
<p>That difficulty persists to this day.</p>
<p>Discussion and debate in New Zealand about te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi has been dominated for decades by two kinds of discourse: history (or rather what is thought to be history) and the law.</p>
<p>Much of what has been taken for history about te Tiriti/the Treaty has been produced by those who have worked outside the universities in Aotearoa New Zealand. History is a discipline that doesn’t present many strong barriers to those who wish to participate in the conversations and controversies it can stir up.</p>
<p>Anyone, whether academically trained or not, can presume to do history, discuss and debate it. This has increasingly become the case as the practice of history has been democratised in recent times.</p>
<p>It’s also the case, as I point out in my new book, <a href="https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/a-bloody-difficult-subject-ruth-ross-te-tiriti-o-waitangi-and-the-making-of-history/">‘A Bloody Difficult Subject’: Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History</a>, that only some of the story about te Tiriti/the Treaty that has had the most impact on public life in New Zealand has been produced in accordance with the scholarly protocols of the discipline of history.</p>
<p>This is because it takes the form of <em>foundational</em> history. This is a kind of historical work in which authors claim that a particular event or text – in this case the making of the Treaty/te Tiriti or the texts of te Tiriti and the Treaty – comprises principles, whether moral or legal, that created the very foundations of the nation.</p>
<h2>Foundational histories</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524292/original/file-20230504-28-vtwqou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The story that has been told basically goes like this: the foundations of the New Zealand nation state – and the basis of its sovereignty – lie in the historic agreement between Māori and Pākehā that was made in 1840. </p>
<p>It amounts to a moral and legal contract between the two parties, both of whom entered into it with a sound enough knowledge of most of its terms, even though it was written in two languages (te reo Māori and English).</p>
<p>It claims that in this agreement Māori ceded sovereignty to the British Crown, but only on the basis that the Crown undertook to protect the chiefs’ <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?&keywords=rangatiratanga">rangatiratanga</a> and their people’s rights of possession to all their lands and other treasures (taonga).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It acknowledges that these terms were repeatedly breached by the New Zealand state (also known as the British Crown) in the years after the Treaty/te Tiriti was made, and recognises that this inflicted enormous losses on Māori. </p>
<p>But it also asserts that the suffering they consequently suffered can be repaired (and the legitimacy of the nation redeemed) by the New Zealand state undertaking to honour the principles of te Tiriti/the Treaty.</p>
<p>This story about the Treaty/te Tiriti is an alluring one and it’s become very popular and powerful among many New Zealanders, both Māori and Pākehā – despite the fact that it amounts to a myth (or, as I will suggest later, <em>because</em> it does).</p>
<h2>Founding myths</h2>
<p>In everyday parlance, “myth” refers to a statement that is widely considered to be false. In using the word to describe foundational histories of te Tiriti/the Treaty I don’t exclude this connotation, but I have something more ambiguous in mind.</p>
<p>Most myths have a genuine link to a genuine past. Indeed, to be considered plausible, historical accounts must be able to show they have, at the very least, a partial relationship to past reality, and thus what is regarded as historically truthful. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-indigenous-reconciliation-efforts-show-having-a-treaty-isnt-enough-49890">New Zealand's indigenous reconciliation efforts show having a treaty isn't enough</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this case, there can be little doubt the British Crown had a moral purpose in choosing to make a treaty with the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand, namely to protect them against the ravages it had good reason to fear British colonisation would cause.</p>
<p>Likewise, there can be no doubt the Crown sought to make a treaty with the chiefs as though they were sovereign. Similarly, the Crown undoubtedly accepted Māori had some rights of possession in regard to land.</p>
<p>Yet the mythical account that foundational histories have provided of te Tiriti/the Treaty is one dimensional. They wrench from the past single traits such as the British Crown’s moral purpose and then proceed to portray them as though they’re the very essence and sum total of past reality. As a result, the story they tell about the historical agreement is egregiously incomplete.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524533/original/file-20230504-1161-ejrzrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Incomplete histories: a fragment of one copy of the Treaty of Waitangi.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Text and meaning</h2>
<p>These myths achieve their effect not so much by falsifying the past as by distortion, oversimplification and omission of historical material that does not serve their creators’ purpose or runs counter to it. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>They skirt around the historical fact that the British Crown often laid claim to sovereignty in New Zealand in the early 1840s on grounds <em>other than</em> the Treaty. These include the notorious legal doctrine of discovery that was the basis upon which the British Crown claimed much of the continent now known as Australia.</p></li>
<li><p>They play down the fact that the British Crown didn’t regard Māori as fully sovereign and that it believed the chiefs needed to cede the limited sovereignty they had so the Crown could provide the protection it reckoned Māori needed.</p></li>
<li><p>They ignore the fact that the British Crown did not define the precise nature of Māori rights of possession in land that it undertook to guarantee in te Tiriti/the Treaty, and that it also limited those rights by stipulating in the agreement that Māori could only sell land to the Crown.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, the most problematic aspect of foundational histories, historically speaking, does not lie in any of these inconvenient historical truths. It lies in two other things:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>It assumes or pretends that a single interpretation can be given of what te Tiriti/the Treaty meant in the past or means in the present, thereby ignoring that any text has multivalent meanings, and especially one that’s in two languages.</p></li>
<li><p>It assumes or claims that the party that offered the Treaty – the British Crown – conceived of the Treaty as a statement of principles that was to provide the foundations of the New Zealand nation, even though there’s little if any historical evidence to suggest the Crown’s agents saw it in this way.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-should-be-wary-of-scare-stories-comparing-the-voice-with-new-zealands-waitangi-tribunal-204676">Australians should be wary of scare stories comparing the Voice with New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>History and the law</h2>
<p>The problematic nature of foundational history as a means of enabling New Zealanders to understand the historic agreement made in 1840 has become all the greater in recent decades. </p>
<p>Most professional historians who have researched and written about te Tiriti/the Treaty have ceded their interpretive authority to what has become the dominant idiom in the interpretation of the Treaty – the law – which has told a story about the Treaty that mirrors that narrated by foundational history.</p>
<p>They have done this in several ways. They have sought to tell a story about te Tiriti/the Treaty that is <em>useful</em> to the law-makers, rather than just ensuring the stories they might tell will be <em>relevant</em> in some way to a consideration of the Treaty/te Tiriti in the New Zealand firmament, and the losses Māori have suffered since colonisation began.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waitangi-day-2023-why-article-3-of-the-treaty-deserves-more-attention-in-the-age-of-co-governance-198976">Waitangi Day 2023: why Article 3 of the Treaty deserves more attention in the age of 'co-governance'</a>
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<p>They have misunderstood the nature of the story that lawyers have tended to tell about te Tiriti/the Treaty, treating it as though it amounts to history, even though the lawyers have made no such claim for their storytelling. </p>
<p>It might be argued that their confusion is understandable: when a professional historian hears, reads or sees a story about the past they are hard-wired to think the storyteller is making a <em>historical</em> claim about that past (in this case the Treaty/te Tiriti) – as distinct, say, from a legal, political or philosophical claim.</p>
<p>But this is nonetheless a mistake, rather like reading a work of historical fiction as though it’s a scholarly history. In the context of te Tiriti/the Treaty, a lawyer is primarily concerned with the present-day addressing and redressing of historical processes. Whereas a professional historian is, or should be, mainly interested in a disinterested retrieving and recounting of the past as it really was.</p>
<p>Further, historians have accepted the way lawyers have treated the Treaty as an act or event that’s first and foremost legal in nature, and especially constitutional, rather than considering it as an historical act or event that was principally political and diplomatic in character.</p>
<p>In doing all these things, professional historians have no doubt had the best of intentions. But there can also be little doubt they have crossed the razor-thin line that should separate historical scholarship from political or legal advocacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524534/original/file-20230504-17-m2aiin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Every February 6, New Zealanders commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at the Treaty Grounds in Waitangi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>‘A bloody difficult subject’</h2>
<p>As a result of what they have done, numerous professional historians have lent a degree of historical legitimacy to the story the law has been telling about te Tiriti/the Treaty that it wouldn’t otherwise have, and which it doesn’t warrant.</p>
<p>In effect, they’ve overreached themselves.</p>
<p>If they had practised their craft strictly in keeping with their discipline’s conventions, they would have found it impossible to produce the kind of mythical account of the Treaty/te Tiriti that they have provided by writing foundational history.</p>
<p>They would also have told a very different story about the historic agreement. This is not idle speculation but a matter of fact. As I discuss in one of the closing chapters of my book, there are several historians who have done just this.</p>
<p>Among the most important have been legal historians. Often trained in both the law and history, they dedicate themselves to trying to recover the past as it happened, rather than providing accounts of the kind the law requires in order to address contemporary problems.</p>
<p>These historians demonstrate that the law <em>did</em> play an important role in the making of te Tiriti/the Treaty, but not in the fashion imagined by lawyers. It was not so much the <em>source</em> of legal principles that determined the terms of te Tiriti/the Treaty, as it was a <em>resource</em> that was deployed in a highly pragmatic fashion by a large range of British players, who were seeking to advance a variety of political, economic and cultural goals that were momentary in nature.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-to-live-with-the-messy-complicated-history-of-how-aotearoa-new-zealand-was-colonised-172219">Learning to live with the 'messy, complicated history' of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Horizons past and present</h2>
<p>What role, then, is the discipline of history best suited to play regarding te Tiriti/the Treaty and its place in contemporary public life in New Zealand?</p>
<p>By seeking to tell more truthful histories, historians might provoke New Zealanders to consider whether there are not intellectually sounder bases than the Treaty/te Tiriti for the political project it stands for.</p>
<p>Such histories could also provide – and indeed have provided – accounts that show how differently te Tiriti/the Treaty has been interpreted and understood over time, changing as the present has changed. In performing such a task, historians can demonstrate, in the words of an American historian, “how the horizon of the present is not the horizon of all that is in the world”.</p>
<p>In other words, the discipline of history’s primary intellectual justification probably lies in it being able to reveal that, once upon a time, there were ways of seeing things that are different to those that dominate in contemporary society. Works of history should surprise, even astound readers, by retrieving those ways of seeing and acting that are no longer known by most people.</p>
<p>In this sense, good history is a comparative exercise, drawing attention to differences <em>and</em> similarities between the past and the present. This could enable us to ask whether, in seeking to redress Māori loss and suffering, something is to be gained by broadening our horizons to include some of those that have largely disappeared from sight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bain Munro Attwood has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The story some histories tell about the 1840 agreement between Māori and the British Crown may be popular and even comforting. But they are also incomplete – and even unhelpful.Bain Munro Attwood, Professor of History, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2046762023-05-01T02:00:03Z2023-05-01T02:00:03ZAustralians should be wary of scare stories comparing the Voice with New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523533/original/file-20230501-4343-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C1721%2C3012%2C2503&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fragment of the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Australian Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/131876087/australian-politician-jacinta-price-claims-waitangi-tribunal-holds-veto-power-over-new-zealand-government">recent claim</a> that New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal has veto powers over parliament was met with surprise in New Zealand, especially by the members of the tribunal itself. That’s because it is just plain wrong.</p>
<p>As the debate around the Voice to Parliament ramps up, we can probably expect similar claims to be made ahead of this year’s referendum. But the issue is so important to Australia’s future that such misinformation should not go unchallenged.</p>
<p>From an Australian perspective, New Zealand may appear ahead of the game in recognising Indigenous voices constitutionally. But that has certainly not extended to granting a parliamentary power of veto to Māori.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/">Waitangi Tribunal</a> was originally established as a commission of inquiry in 1975, given the power only to make recommendations to government. And so it remains. The Crown alone appoints tribunal members and many are non-Māori.</p>
<p>As with all commissions of inquiry, it’s up to the government of the day to make a political decision about whether or not to implement those recommendations. </p>
<h2>Deceptive and wrong</h2>
<p>Price’s claim echoed a February <a href="https://ipa.org.au/ipa-today/the-new-zealand-maori-voice-to-parliament-and-what-we-can-expect-from-australia">article and paper</a> published by the Institute of Public Affairs, aimed at influencing the Voice referendum. Titled “The New Zealand Māori voice to Parliament and what we can expect from Australia”, it was written by the director of the institute’s legal rights program, John Storey.</p>
<p>The paper makes a number of assertions: the Waitangi Tribunal has a veto over the New Zealand parliament’s power to pass certain legislation; the Waitangi Tribunal was established to hear land claims but its brief has expanded to include all aspects of public policy; and the Waitangi Tribunal “shows the Voice will create new Indigenous rights”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-australia-could-learn-from-new-zealand-about-indigenous-representation-201761">What Australia could learn from New Zealand about Indigenous representation</a>
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<p>The last of the statements is deceptive and the others are completely wrong. The Waitangi Tribunal’s jurisdiction was largely set in stone by the New Zealand parliament in 1975 when it was established. </p>
<p>Far from investigating land claims, it initially wasn’t able to examine any claims dating from before 1975. Parliament changed the tribunal’s jurisdiction in 1985, giving it retrospective powers back to 1840 (when the <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-the-treaty-of-waitangi">Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> was signed).</p>
<p>The tribunal then started hearing land claims. But in its first decade, it focused on fisheries, planning issues, the loss of Māori language, government decisions being made at the time and general issues of public policy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523536/original/file-20230501-1209-q6y0pk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honouring the Treaty: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the 2023 Waitangi Day commemorations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Historic grievances</h2>
<p>Over the past 38 years, the tribunal has focused on what are called “historical Treaty claims”, covering the period 1840 to 1992. In 1992 a <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0121/latest/DLM281433.html">major settlement</a> of fishing claims began an era of negotiation and settlement of these claims, quite separate from the tribunal itself. </p>
<p>With the majority of significant historic claims now settled or in negotiation, that aspect of the tribunal’s work is coming to an end. It has returned to hearing claims about social issues and other more contemporary issues. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/solicitor-general-confirms-voice-model-is-legally-sound-will-not-fetter-or-impede-parliament-204266">Solicitor-general confirms Voice model is legally sound, will not 'fetter or impede' parliament</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Far from expanding its jurisdiction, the tribunal’s powers have been steadily reduced in recent decades. In 1993, it lost the power to make recommendations involving private land – that is, land not owned by the Crown. In 2008 it lost the power to investigate new historical claims, as the government looked to close off new claims that could undermine current settlements. </p>
<p>There is one area where the tribunal was given the power to force the Crown to return land. The 1984-1990 Labour government set a policy to rid itself of what were seen as surplus Crown assets. A deal was struck between Māori claimants and the Crown to allow the tribunal to make binding recommendations to return land in very special cases. </p>
<p>This compromise was not created by the tribunal but through ambiguity in legislation, which was resolved in favour of Māori claimants in the Court of Appeal. The ability to return land has almost never been used and is being progressively repealed across the country as Treaty settlements are implemented in legislation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1651634101139681282"}"></div></p>
<h2>Wide political support</h2>
<p>Storey quotes a number of tribunal reports, which make findings about the Crown’s responsibilities, as if these findings are binding on the Crown or even on parliament. This is not the case. The Waitangi Tribunal investigates claims that the Crown has acted contrary to the “<a href="https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/publications-and-resources/waitangi-tribunal-reports/ngatiwai-mandate-inquiry/chapter-3/">principles of the Treaty</a>”. </p>
<p>The Waitangi Tribunal establishes what those principles are, but they are binding on neither the courts nor parliament. Having made findings, the tribunal makes recommendations – not to parliament, as Storey suggests, but to ministers of the Crown. Some recommendations are implemented, others are not. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
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<p>Where there is a dispute between the Crown and Māori, the tribunal has often recommended negotiation rather than make specific recommendations for redress.</p>
<p>Storey has <a href="https://ipa.org.au/ipa-today/new-zealand-shows-us-how-the-voice-will-work">elsewhere referred</a> to the tribunal as a “so-called advisory, now binding, Māori Voice to Parliament” that has “decreed” certain things. In the longer paper he does admit the “tribunal cannot dictate the exact form any redress offered by government must take”. But he then falls back on the notion of a “moral veto” – that its status is so elevated that parliament is forced, however reluctantly, to do its bidding.</p>
<p>Yet not only does the Crown ignore tribunal recommendations as it chooses, it refuses even to be bound by the tribunal’s expert findings on history in negotiating settlements.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-a-treaty-what-could-it-mean-for-indigenous-people-200261">What actually is a treaty? What could it mean for Indigenous people?</a>
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<p>The Waitangi Tribunal will remain a permanent commission of inquiry because there is wide political support for its work. Nor can be it held solely responsible for increasing Māori assertiveness or political engagement with government, even if this was in any way a bad thing. </p>
<p>A larger social shift has taken place in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past few decades. No fiat from the Waitangi Tribunal has eliminated the cultural misappropriation of Māori faces and imagery – something Storey warns could mean “tea towels with a depiction of Uluru/Ayers Rock, or boomerang fridge magnets, would become problematic”.</p>
<p>The Waitangi Tribunal has often done no more than make Māori histories, Māori perspectives and Māori values accessible to a non-Māori majority. It has certainly had no power to control where debates on Indigenous issues fall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Belgrave was Research Manager for the Waitangi Tribunal, 1990-1993, and was commissioned at various times until 2006 to undertake historical research for the Tribunal.</span></em></p>Far from expanding its jurisdiction or having a veto over parliament, the powers of New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal have been steadily reduced in recent decades.Michael Belgrave, Professor of History, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020372023-03-20T19:23:54Z2023-03-20T19:23:54ZNZ universities are not normal Crown institutions – they shouldn’t be ‘Tiriti-led’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516247/original/file-20230320-28-gb9640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C22%2C5084%2C3363&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of its <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/otago0241079.pdf">aspiration</a> to be “Tiriti-led”, the University of Otago has embarked on a <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/15-03-2023/the-process-to-rebrand-our-oldest-university">consultation process</a> to re-brand. The proposed change involves a new logo and a new, deeply symbolic Māori name: Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. </p>
<p>Universities occasionally change logos, names and marketing strategies. All New Zealand institutions have added te reo Māori to their original titles, often opting for a literal translation – “Te Whare Wānanga” – to describe their status as a university. But Otago is taking it a step further. </p>
<p>Metaphorically, “whakaihu” refers to the university’s place as the country’s oldest university, as well as its Māori students often being the first to graduate from their whanau and communities. And it symbolically includes everyone on the “<a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search/?keywords=waka">waka</a>”.</p>
<p>That is exactly what a university is supposed to be, of course – a place for everyone. A place where people are free to think and develop ideas, even contested or unpopular ones. As the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS170676.html">Education and Training Act 2020</a> says, universities must operate as the “critic and conscience of society”. </p>
<p>But being “Tiriti-led” is not as straightforward. It throws into sharp relief where universities sit in relation to the Crown under te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi. This, in turn, raises quite fundamental questions about what a university is in the first place.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1635823270414147585"}"></div></p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
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<h2>What is te Tiriti, what is a university?</h2>
<p>Essentially, <a href="https://www.archives.govt.nz/discover-our-stories/the-treaty-of-waitangi">te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> was the Māori language agreement in 1840 between Māori hapu and the British Crown which set out the terms of British settlement. Britain could establish government over its own people, hapu would retain authority over their own affairs. </p>
<p>Māori would enjoy the “rights and privileges” of British subjects, a legal status which continues to evolve as New Zealand citizenship. The Treaty of Waitangi is an English language version of the agreement with different and less favourable emphases for Māori.</p>
<p>By wanting to become “Tiriti-led”, <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/otago0241079.pdf">Otago has decided</a> it is part of the Crown party to this agreement. This makes Kai Tahu, as mana whenua (people of the land), the university’s “principal Tiriti partner”. </p>
<p>By contrast, when <a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/about/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-massey/strategy-and-charter/">Massey University says</a> it’s Tiriti-led, it doesn’t explicitly say it’s part of the Crown. Auckland University of Technology’s <a href="https://www.aut.ac.nz/about/auts-leadership/welcome-from-the-vice-chancellor">vice-chancellor</a> has said his university is Tiriti-led, but there’s no definition to be easily found on the public record. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colonial-ideas-have-kept-nz-and-australia-in-a-rut-of-policy-failure-we-need-policy-by-indigenous-people-for-the-people-188583">Colonial ideas have kept NZ and Australia in a rut of policy failure. We need policy by Indigenous people, for the people</a>
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<p>Styling a relationship in this way is significant – but not necessarily in ways that keep faith with te Tiriti o Waitangi, or with the essential purposes of a university.</p>
<p>Universities are owned and principally funded by the Crown. But their obligation to independent scholarship means they can’t be part of the Crown in the <em>same</em> way as a government department. Universities don’t take direction from ministers in the same way, and their staff are not public servants. They are not part of the executive branch of government.</p>
<p>Together with their students and graduates, <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0048/1.0/whole.html">academics <em>are</em> the university</a> – a community of scholars obliged to contribute to the discovery and sharing of knowledge, but not obliged to serve the government of the day.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516252/original/file-20230320-14-r3wi40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the same waka but on different sides of the partnership: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Waitangi this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Us and them</h2>
<p>Parliament and the executive (government ministers) together decide what te Tiriti means to the Crown side of the relationship. Public servants offer advice, but ultimately take ministers’ instructions on giving effect to whatever is the Crown’s Tiriti policy. </p>
<p>Academics, however, can take a different view. They’re not bound by what the Crown side of the agreement thinks. And, as developments in te Tiriti policy show, academic independence makes a difference.</p>
<p>In 1877, New Zealand’s <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/the-chief-justice-declares-that-the-treaty-of-waitangi-is-worthless-and-a-simple-nullity">Supreme Court found</a> the Treaty was legally a “simple nullity” because it had not been incorporated into domestic law. It wasn’t the public servant’s role to object, at least not in public. That kind of intellectual freedom belongs elsewhere. Explicitly, it’s one of the reasons universities exist. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-te-tiriti-at-the-centre-of-aotearoa-new-zealands-public-policy-can-strengthen-democracy-heres-how-180305">Putting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here's how</a>
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</p>
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<p>Academics – Māori and others – have contributed significantly to developments in te Tiriti policy since 1877, especially in more recent years. Their contributions have often contested prevailing political thought. Universities have given Māori academics – and through them, Māori communities – the kind of voice unavailable to public servants working for the Crown partner. </p>
<p>Partnership is one of the “<a href="https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/o-matou-mohiotanga/crownmaori-relations/he-tirohanga-o-kawa-ki-te-tiriti-o-waitangi">Treaty principles</a>”, developed legally and politically as an interpretive guide to the agreement. But partnership creates a “them” and “us” binary. </p>
<p>In my book, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-33-4172-2">Sharing the Sovereign: recognition, treaties and the state</a>, I show how this binary encourages people to think of the Crown as exclusively Pākehā. Any institution that is not solely Māori is an institution that belongs to “them”. </p>
<p>This reinforces Māori separation from the university as an institution that should belongs to all of us – and to each of us in our own ways.</p>
<h2>Academics are not public servants</h2>
<p>If an institution represents one side of a partnership, that institution cannot be a “place for everyone”. A Māori student or staff member should be able to say, “I belong here as much as anybody else, with the same rights, opportunities and obligations to contribute to the institution’s culture, values and purpose.”</p>
<p>That includes the right to study and teach te Tiriti with an independence that is not available to public servants.</p>
<p>In 2020, I helped develop “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468796819896466">Critical Tiriti Analysis</a>”, a policy evaluation method that could be used to assess public policy consistency with te Tiriti. While anecdotally it seems now to be widely used across the public service, it’s not something likely to have been written by a public servant. The Crown is a cautious Tiriti partner. </p>
<p>Thoroughness and objectivity – but not political caution – guide academic contributions to policy debate. Such contributions are different in style and purpose from the kind of policy making that it is the duty of the public service to undertake. </p>
<p>Universities are not the Crown in the same sense, and this is why they are not Tiriti partners.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Otago University has followed Massey in aspiring to be a “Tiriti-led” institution. But this implies being on the Crown side of the partnership – which is not where a university should be.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989762023-02-03T00:31:36Z2023-02-03T00:31:36ZWaitangi Day 2023: why Article 3 of the Treaty deserves more attention in the age of ‘co-governance’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507977/original/file-20230202-13499-md4bol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C12%2C4268%2C2811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The heated (and often confused) debate about “<a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/11/explainer-what-is-co-governance/">co-governance</a>” in Aotearoa New Zealand inevitably leads back to its source, <a href="https://www.archives.govt.nz/discover-our-stories/the-treaty-of-waitangi">Te Tiriti o Waitangi</a>. But, as its long-contested meanings demonstrate, very little in the Treaty of Waitangi is straightforward.</p>
<p>Two versions of the 1840 document were written, one <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/english-text">in English</a> and one in <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-treaty/maori-text">te reo</a> Māori. About 540 Māori, including 13 women, had put their names or <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/4170">moko</a> to the document. All but 39 <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/making-the-treaty/signing-the-treaty#:%7E:text=Gathering%20signatures%20from%20around%20the,Waitangi%20on%206%20February%201840.">signed the Māori text</a>.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/read-the-Treaty/differences-between-the-texts">differences in the translations</a> were so significant that there has been debate ever since about what much of this agreement actually meant, especially Articles 1 and 2.</p>
<p>Article 3, on the other hand, attracts less controversy – which is interesting, because it was and is critical to debates such as the one swirling around co-governance. In effect, Article 3 acted as a mechanism by which the <a href="https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_68338112/Maori%20Electoral%20Option%201994.pdf">fundamental rights and privileges</a> of British citizenship would be afforded Māori.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507978/original/file-20230202-16618-7ntl8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">William Hobson, circa 1840.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In the English language version, the Crown promises the Queen’s “royal protection and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British Subjects”. In te reo, the Crown gave an assurance that Māori would have the Queen’s protection and all rights accorded to British subjects.</p>
<p>The promise of these rights and privileges, coupled with Articles 1 and 2, conferred a fundamental commitment of a <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/WT-Principles-of-the-Treaty-of-Waitangi-as-expressed-by-the-Courts-and-the-Waitangi-Tribunal.pdf">partnership</a>, in which the two sides could be expected to act reasonably, honourably and in good faith towards each other.</p>
<p>Although there were many British laws, practices and principles in existence by this time, four particularly stand out.</p>
<h2>Participation</h2>
<p>The ideal was that laws reflected the community (or a portion of it at least) and were made with the participation and consent of citizens. This was a long-standing principle, in that law and governance could not be something arbitrary or controlled absolutely by one person.</p>
<p>There had been efforts to control royal abuses of power since the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/originsofparliament/birthofparliament/overview/magnacarta/">Magna Carta</a> in 1215 and the establishment of a “common council of the kingdom”, by which high-ranking community leaders could be summoned to discuss important matters.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-growing-number-of-non-maori-new-zealanders-are-embracing-learning-te-reo-but-theres-more-to-it-than-language-198154">A growing number of non-Māori New Zealanders are embracing learning te reo – but there's more to it than language</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Later, the 1688 <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/WillandMarSess2/1/2/introduction">Bill of Rights</a> required free and frequent parliaments which would contain the right of free speech within them (parliamentary privilege in today’s terms). This meant representatives could speak without fear. Monarchs could no longer suspend laws on a whim, levy taxes at their pleasure, or maintain a standing army during peacetime without the permission of parliament.</p>
<p>The anomaly that only about 5% of British citizens (wealthy and entitled men) could actually vote for members of parliament was not resolved until <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseofcommons/reformacts/overview/reformact1832/">legal reform</a> in the early 1830s. This began the expansion of the political franchise and the widening of control over parliament.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507979/original/file-20230202-19461-cm8k8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The British Houses of Parliament in the 1800s, source of the laws underpinning the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Individual rights</h2>
<p>All were deemed equal in the eyes of the law, and the delivery of justice with integrity could be expected. Clause 39 of the Magna Carta stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Clause 40 added: “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.” The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Cha2/31/2">Habeas Corpus Act</a> of 1679 required a court to examine the lawfulness of a prisoner’s detention, thus preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment.</p>
<p>The Bill of Rights prohibited excessive penalties, cruel and unusual punishment, and the imposition of fines or penalties before convictions. It also guaranteed the right for all citizens to petition, where they could complain or seek help from the authorities, without fear of punishment.</p>
<h2>Tolerance and a free press</h2>
<p>After the Reformation, religious tolerance among British subjects took centuries to develop. The 1701 Toleration Act allowed some <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/catholicsnonconformists-/#:%7E:text=Toleration%20for%20nonconformists&text=In%201689%2C%20after%20much%20debate,of%20the%20oath%20of%20allegiance.">tolerance</a> of the public practising of different religions, although the monarch could never be Catholic. But it was not until 1829 that <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/2015-parliament-in-the-making/get-involved1/2015-banners-exhibition/rachel-gadsden/1829-catholic-emancipation-act-gallery/#:%7E:text=In%20the%201828%20County%20Clare,Irish%20peasants%20entitled%20to%20vote.">Catholics</a> – and some other faiths – could even be elected to parliament in Britain.</p>
<p>The importance of tolerance can be seen in the <a href="https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/maori/treaty-waitangi/treaty-close/content-treaty-waitangi">oral promise</a> made by Governor William Hobson at the time of the signing the Treaty: all established religious faiths would be tolerated in New Zealand, “and also Māori custom shall be alike protected by him”. Although an oral commitment, to many signatories it was just as binding as the written words.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/putting-te-tiriti-at-the-centre-of-aotearoa-new-zealands-public-policy-can-strengthen-democracy-heres-how-180305">Putting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here's how</a>
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<p>Public debate and the role of a free press was another important privilege. Although British laws governing libel, blasphemy and sedition were continued after 1688, there was a clear trend toward expanding liberty, allowing both booksellers and newspapers to proliferate. </p>
<p>This helped build the modern belief in the “fourth estate”, and that the media would act as a positive influence on decision makers.</p>
<h2>Forward together</h2>
<p>Despite the fine sounding language of Article 3 and all the expectations that went with it, the reality was that for many decades after 1840, the promised rights and privileges did not arrive for everyone.</p>
<p>The governor, followed by the early stages of representative government, ruled with a near absolute power that crushed dissent. The law itself was often used to target the rights and privileges of Māori, with some of the darkest examples occurring during and after the New Zealand Wars/Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa.</p>
<p><a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/district-inquiries/te-paparahi-o-te-raki-northland">Equality</a> for most was largely a chimera, tolerance was elusive, and the press did not act as a brake on atrocious decision making.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crown-is-maori-too-citizenship-sovereignty-and-the-treaty-of-waitangi-111168">The Crown is Māori too - citizenship, sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
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<p>Thankfully, the world is different today. Positive change has happened through successive generations of Māori defending the rights guaranteed in 1840, the Waitangi Tribunal, and the critical questioning of early and contemporary government policies by Māori, politicians, community leaders, media and scholars. </p>
<p>There have been official apologies, compensation and redress, although only a portion of what was alienated has been returned.</p>
<p>As we move forward and look for new ways to work together to achieve equal and equitable partnership based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it is important to remember the relevance of Article 3 and what it continues to offer in a modern context.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi gave Māori the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under British law. Understanding it is critical to modern debates over ‘co-governance’ and partnership.Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoClaire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoValmaine Toki, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981542023-02-02T20:27:53Z2023-02-02T20:27:53ZA growing number of non-Māori New Zealanders are embracing learning te reo – but there’s more to it than language<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507715/original/file-20230201-16802-wydv3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C177%2C6200%2C3534&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/traditional-maori-carving-whakarewarewa-marae-meeting-558569098">Shutterstock/Renata Apanaviciene</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we approach another Waitangi Day, we should be thinking again about what Te Tiriti o Waitangi means. </p>
<p>As the late Moana Jackson commented, the meaning of Te Tiriti will be talked about in each generation because <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/korero/interview-with-moana-jackson">it is about a relationship</a> between Māori and Pākehā and relationships must always be worked on. Here, we focus on the learning of te reo Māori by non-Māori in relation to Te Tiriti and the Māori concept of whakapapa in the hope of continuing the conversation and the relationship. </p>
<p>For full disclosure, we are married. Pania is Ngāti Porou and her father is a native speaker. Brian is Pākehā. We both learned te reo Māori as a second language as adults. We will come back to this later.</p>
<p>The learning of te reo Māori by non-Māori has become cool. Growing numbers of non-Māori are enrolled in te reo courses and there are many new resources to support their learning. It cannot be separated from Tiriti concerns and whakapapa. </p>
<p>Several authors have commented on this phenomenon of non-Māori enthusiasm for te reo Māori and Māori knowledge, highlighting the complex nature of the motivations involved. </p>
<p>Alison Jones, a Pākehā scholar in Indigenous education, notices how the demand by non-Māori to have te reo <a href="https://e-tangata.co.nz/reo/alison-jones-when-pakeha-acquire-te-reo/">echoes the colonising demand</a> to have Māori land. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1413952926377148419"}"></div></p>
<p>Catherine Delahunty, a Pākehā activist in environmental and social justice, reminds non-Māori to “<a href="https://e-tangata.co.nz/reflections/staying-in-our-lane/">stay in our lane</a>”, and warns that if we don’t, we effectively co-opt and attempt to control things that don’t belong to us. </p>
<p>Nicola Bright, a senior researcher of Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa descent at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (<a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/">NZCER</a>), tells us <a href="https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/02/reo-revitalisation/">Māori should benefit first</a> from the revitalisation of te reo Māori. </p>
<p>Georgina Tuari Stewart, a scholar who explores the nexus between culture and education, alerts us to the need to <a href="https://pesaagora.com/columns/a-passion-for-ignorance/">accept the limits of our ability to know</a> in relation to Māori knowledge.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1543326588863148032"}"></div></p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/ki-te-hoe-education-aotearoa">our own work</a>, as academics focused on Indigenisation and decolonisation of education systems, we talk of New Zealand and Aotearoa as two different countries occupying the same land. Te Tiriti is about relations between these two countries.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tokenism-and-te-reo-maori-why-some-things-just-shouldnt-be-translated-190140">Tokenism and te reo Māori: why some things just shouldn’t be translated</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>A whakapapa perspective on language</h2>
<p>We see the learning of te reo Māori with a whakapapa lens. We refer to whakapapa as the emergence of new entities from their previous forms. Inherent in our understanding is an acceptance that entities have a natural right to have their whakapapa respected.</p>
<p>For most non-Māori, languages have been commodified and are available on demand. We liken this to having a language supermarket. Customers can buy various products “off the shelf” to allow them to learn any language they like. </p>
<p>These days, the supermarket is virtual and the products are digital apps. We see the dark irony in Māori having to shop for their own language in this supermarket.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bilingual-road-signs-in-aotearoa-new-zealand-would-tell-us-where-we-are-as-a-nation-150438">Bilingual road signs in Aotearoa New Zealand would tell us where we are as a nation</a>
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<p>In this commodified world, language is understood as a symbolic code that can be learned to express your thoughts. Learning a new language just means learning a new code. This is a distinctly colonising and capitalist view of language which cuts right across whakapapa, treating language as a disembodied entity, fixed through a vocabulary and a set of rules. </p>
<p>Viewed through whakapapa, a language is inherent in the worldviews and experiences of the people who emerge with it. Seen this way, languages cannot be separated from the people who speak them and who have inherited them from their ancestors. </p>
<h2>Could non-Māori learning te reo be akin to colonisation?</h2>
<p>The learning of te reo Māori, whether we like it or not, is already in the public domain. Anyone can learn it and we encourage everyone to do so. But if not done well and ethically, it could be another wave of colonisation. </p>
<p>If we go about learning te reo Māori as if it were a symbolic code or a commodified product that will provide certain (economic and self-investment) benefits, several things become apparent. </p>
<p>Since we learn a commodified version of te reo, we are not part of any processes of emergence alongside the people whose heritage te reo Māori is. This commodified form is in fact part of whakapapa for many non-Māori. It has emerged from our experiences and worldview and is a form of appropriation. </p>
<p>The taking of other people’s stuff and refashioning it for our purposes is indeed colonisation. But there is also great potential for growth as people and as a nation because learning a language can change you. </p>
<p>In whakapapa terms, the presence of te reo Māori in your life has become part of the emergence of the next versions of you and your descendants. The bottom line is to understand and respect whakapapa. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-to-live-with-the-messy-complicated-history-of-how-aotearoa-new-zealand-was-colonised-172219">Learning to live with the 'messy, complicated history' of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised</a>
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<h2>Honouring te Tiriti</h2>
<p>Non-Māori people must first acknowledge the right for te reo to emerge in the world along with the people whose own emergence is intimately entwined with it through whakapapa. That’s iwi Māori.</p>
<p>This is a difficult task because many non-Māori are so used to believing that, in theory at least, they can know and possess anything (if they want to and put in the effort). Respecting whakapapa then involves non-Māori in a necessary self-limitation which runs counter to their own cultural development in a capitalist, exploitative and predatory culture. </p>
<p>Non-Māori must figure out how to acquire te reo Māori without possessing it.
It might help to return to our idea of two countries overlapping in time and space – New Zealand and Aotearoa. Honouring Te Tiriti then asks those of us who live in New Zealand to honour what happens in another country, Aotearoa. </p>
<p>We would never say, for example, that we have claims over what happens in China, nor that because we speak Chinese we have some special insight or claim over China or Chinese people. Adopting a similar stance with respect to te reo Māori as the native language of Aotearoa will bring us closer to being able to respect its right to have natural emergence through whakapapa. </p>
<p>For us, even though we converse with each other every day in te reo Māori, one of us speaks Māori and the other doesn’t.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We encourage everyone to learn te reo Māori, but if not done well and ethically, it could be another wave of colonisation.Brian Tweed, Senior lecturer, Massey UniversityPania Te Maro, Associate Professor, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906562022-09-14T22:33:31Z2022-09-14T22:33:31ZGod save the King: why the monarchy is safe in Aotearoa New Zealand – for now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484726/original/file-20220914-9420-48cwta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C3484%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Zealanders with republican or just plain anti-monarchy sympathies will have been disappointed (though maybe not surprised) that the Queen’s death has not triggered a more critical conversation about the country’s constitutional future.</p>
<p>Quite the opposite, in fact, if the prime minister is right. Far from representing a possible inflexion point in the nation’s post-Elizabethan development, Jacinda Ardern has suggested the nation’s close connection to the royal family would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/11/jacinda-ardern-expects-new-zealands-royal-ties-to-deepen-under-king-charles-iii">continue and strengthen</a> under Charles III.</p>
<p>If so, it would put New Zealand in the vanguard of colonial loyalty. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/29/barbados-set-to-become-a-republic-ditching-british-queen">Barbados</a>, of course, has recently taken the republican route, as have 35 other former British colonies or dependencies. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/antigua-barbuda-planning-vote-become-republic-within-3-years-media-2022-09-11/">Antigua and Barbuda</a>, <a href="https://www.essence.com/news/jamaica-republic-2025/">Jamaica</a> and other Caribbean nations are setting off down that path, and there is also the prospect <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/12/albanese-says-inappropriate-to-discuss-republic-now-but-doesnt-rule-out-future-referendum">Australia</a> will join them at some point. </p>
<p>Indeed, of the 56 nations that are part of the Commonwealth, only 14 still <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/the-unpublished-blueprint-to-bring-home-new-zealands-head-of-state">retain the British monarch</a> as head of state.</p>
<p>And yet, despite the future of the monarchy fast becoming a subject of debate around the remainder of the Commonwealth, it seems unlikely that much republican chatter will be heard any time soon in Aotearoa New Zealand.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1570163101726564357"}"></div></p>
<h2>Republican residues</h2>
<p>This lack of enthusiasm for a debate is a little perplexing. It’s not as if <a href="http://www.republic.org.nz/latestblog/queenstatement">republicanism is unknown in Aotearoa</a>. The New Zealand Republican Party was even briefly (and unsuccessfully) involved in electoral politics in the late 1960s.</p>
<p>At the Labour Party’s 1973 national conference, a remit to declare the country a republic was debated but scuttled. And in 1994, then prime minister Jim Bolger suggested New Zealand should look to achieve republican status by 2001. He was clearly ahead of his time.</p>
<p>There has been at least one more recent attempt to get the republican ball rolling. In late 2009, Green MP Keith Locke had his <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/49HansS_20100421_00001350/locke-keith-head-of-state-referenda-bill-first-reading">Head of State Referenda Bill</a> drawn from the parliamentary ballot. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-evolving-colony-to-bicultural-nation-queen-elizabeth-ii-walked-a-long-road-with-aotearoa-new-zealand-179933">From evolving colony to bicultural nation, Queen Elizabeth II walked a long road with Aotearoa New Zealand</a>
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<hr>
<p>Had Locke’s bill been successful (it wasn’t, dipping out at the first reading by 15 votes), there would have been a referendum on remaking the governor-general as the ceremonial head of a parliamentary (rather than a presidential) republic.</p>
<p>And it is not that New Zealand isn’t constitutionally innovative or reluctant to have constitutional conversations. In 1951, it <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/history-and-buildings/evolution-of-parliament/legislative-council/">jettisoned its second parliamentary chamber</a> and in the mid-1990s adopted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/12/new-zealands-mmp-electoral-system-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work">proportional representation</a> for national elections. </p>
<p>Debates about the place of <a href="https://www.nzstory.govt.nz/stories/the-treaty-of-waitangi/">Te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> are a regular feature of public life, in which consideration has long been given to <a href="https://nwo.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MatikeMaiAotearoa25Jan16.pdf">alternative constitutional structures</a> that fit Aotearoa’s unique history and society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484728/original/file-20220914-16744-trnifk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Republican dreamer: former prime minister Jim Bolger wanted a republic by 2001.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Constitutional consistency</h2>
<p>There may be several reasons why republicanism has not captured the public mood here <a href="https://www.essence.com/news/jamaica-republic-2025/">the way it has elsewhere</a>. For a start, there are simply always more pressing political priorities – right now including the <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/increase-in-cost-of-living-reaches-new-high">cost of living</a>, entrenched <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/mi/pb/research-papers/document/00PlibCIP181/household-incomes-inequality-and-poverty/">income</a> and <a href="https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1935430/WP-21-10-wealth-inequality-in-New-Zealand.pdf">wealth</a> inequalities, and the <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-inflation-reaches-30-year-high-of-6-9-percent">return of inflation</a>. </p>
<p>Not many prime ministers would voluntarily expend political capital on a debate few New Zealanders appear to find especially relevant.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/charles-iii-the-difficult-legacy-and-political-significance-of-the-new-kings-name-190383">Charles III: the difficult legacy and political significance of the new king's name</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, it may be that in an age of political polarisation, the idea of a head of state who is not only unelected but also happens to live a <a href="https://www.distance.to/New-Zealand/London">long way away</a> appeals to those for whom politics has become distastefully partisan. In trying times, the pull of tradition and constancy is strong for some people.</p>
<p>A third reason lies in the significance of the relationship between Māori and the Crown, provided for by the cornerstone of the nation’s constitutional architecture, Te Tiriti o Waitangi.</p>
<p>The particulars of that relationship are <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/anne-salmond-te-tiriti-and-democracy">hotly debated</a>, but there is a view that replacing the Crown (as an institution) with something homegrown would disrupt the partnership it represents. The Crown may well be the historic coloniser, but for that very reason it is the Crown which must engage in the conversation about decolonisation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1569674371265880070"}"></div></p>
<h2>If not now, when?</h2>
<p>Of course, there are many New Zealanders for whom republicanism makes perfectly good sense. In part, that’s because, since the advent of responsible government in 1856, “the Crown” has effectively meant the political executive, not the person of the monarch. It is the prime minister and cabinet who govern, not the head of state.</p>
<p>There is, too, the basic weirdness of retaining a monarch who becomes head of state by virtue of having been born into one <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2017/jul/17/british-royal-family-windsor-name-change-1917">very particular English family</a> domiciled on the other side of the world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-queen-elizabeth-ii-made-the-british-monarchy-into-a-global-brand-190394">How Queen Elizabeth II made the British monarchy into a global brand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Which means, of course, that no actual New Zealander (nor for that matter anyone who is <a href="https://www.royal.uk/succession">not a Protestant</a>) can ever be the head of state of New Zealand. (Happily those proscriptions do not apply to the monarch’s representative, <a href="https://gg.govt.nz/governor-general">the governor-general</a>.)</p>
<p>This quirk of history notwithstanding, there is little to suggest the accession of a new monarch is about to generate a wave of republican sentiment in Aotearoa. And yet, the republican conversation has already been held in India, Barbados and Fiji, and is well under way across the Caribbean.</p>
<p>When and if that discussion <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-albanese-republic-referendum-queen-death-b2165229.html">heats up in Australia</a> again, the promise – or spectre – of republicanism will be right next door. By then, memories of a monarch who ruled over the end of empire for 70 years will have started to fade. All bets will be off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Shaw does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the prime minister is right, and New Zealand’s ties to the monarchy will only strengthen under Charles III, the country will be swimming against the Commonwealth tide.Richard Shaw, Professor of Politics, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1799332022-09-08T23:31:12Z2022-09-08T23:31:12ZFrom evolving colony to bicultural nation, Queen Elizabeth II walked a long road with Aotearoa New Zealand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483621/original/file-20220908-12-l4bcjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C1794%2C1129&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The death of Queen Elizabeth II brings to an end a long, complex and remarkable chapter in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand’s evolution from colony to independent, bicultural and multicultural nation. </p>
<p>Throughout that period, however, New Zealanders have generally admired and even loved the monarch herself, even if the institution she represented lay at the centre of a vexed, often traumatic, reckoning with the colonial past.</p>
<p>If there was a highpoint in New Zealand royalism, it was witnessed during the first visit by the young Queen and Duke of Edinburgh between December 23 1953 and January 30 1954. An estimated three in every four people turned out to see the royal couple in what historian Jock Phillips has called “the most elaborate and most whole-hearted public occasion in New Zealand history”. </p>
<p>After decades of economic depression and war, Elizabeth’s June 1953 coronation heralded an optimistic postwar atmosphere. Following the conquest of Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay – claimed as a jewel in the new Queen’s crown – the royal tour was the perfect moment for New Zealand to celebrate. </p>
<p>The Queen’s presence also fulfilled the long anticipated wish that a reigning British monarch would visit. War, then bad health, had previously dashed hopes for a tour by George VI. </p>
<p>Elizabeth II made a huge impression. She appeared as a youthful, radiant, even magical queen, one dedicated to serving her people. She charmed an older generation and embedded herself in the memories of the children who lined up to see her. They would all grow up to be, one way or another, “royal watchers”, aware of her reign and its milestones, keeping up with the lives of her children, their spouses and her grandchildren. </p>
<p>And then, less than 40 hours after her arrival, the young Queen’s leadership was put to the test when 151 people died in the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/the-tangiwai-railway-disaster">Tangiwai rail disaster</a> on Christmas Eve. She visited survivors and included words of comfort in her speeches, cementing her connection to the grieving, and to the country. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483619/original/file-20220908-23-s3i724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Duke of Edinburgh places a wreath at the mass funeral in Wellington for victims of the Christmas Eve rail disaster at Tangiwai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The female crown</h2>
<p>Remarkably, it was not until 2011 that females became equal to males in the rules of British royal succession. Queens only came to power in the absence of a male heir. And yet, this historical sexism also endowed queens with an exceptional quality – strong mother figures presiding over their subjects. </p>
<p>Indeed, in the past two centuries of the British monarchy, it is Queen Victoria (who reigned for almost 64 years) and Queen Elizabeth II (reigning for 70 years) who stand out as not just the longest-serving, but also most significant monarchs. Both played a crucial part in New Zealand’s history. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-the-end-of-the-new-elizabethan-age-157897">Queen Elizabeth II: the end of the 'new Elizabethan age'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In my work as a historian I have argued that the politically conservative “female imperialism”, emblemised in the reigns of Victoria and Elizabeth, encouraged women to support the British Empire and Commonwealth. In turn, it helped raise women’s status in society. </p>
<p>For example, both queens inspired women to “take up their mantle” and work for empire and nation: often in maternal roles with children as teachers and nurses. The female crown encouraged citizenship based on British values, offering school prizes and support for migrants. </p>
<p>The young Elizabeth’s volunteer work during the second world war set an example for youth, as did her longtime role as patron of the Girl Guides. The gender-power of the Queen was already on display during the 1952-53 tour when she visited servicewomen, nurses and mothers with new babies, and was given presents for her own children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483615/original/file-20220908-9663-2fb46j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Queen talks with Māori guide Rangi during the visit to the village of Whakarewarewa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Celebrity status</h2>
<p>Over the past 70 years, the Queen also became something of a modern celebrity, a fixture in women’s magazines, on radio, television and now social media. As well as turning out to see her in person during her ten visits, New Zealanders “took her into their homes” with press clippings, souvenir pictures and keepsakes. </p>
<p>During that first tour, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly pronounced upon the Queen’s role in the enduring relationship with Britain:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>An even stronger link will be consolidated and spiritual stimulus given to life by the influence of one who is an inspiration to all. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She was described as “enchanting”, with her “exquisite complexion, her eyes like sapphires […] and her beautiful mobile mouth as she talked and smiled”. In 1963 she was “lovely” with “the breathtaking brilliance of [her] peacock silk outfit against the broad canvas of sea and sky”. </p>
<p>In 1970 she was “a fairytale Queen – a glittering image such as children visualise when they think of the word Queen”. In 1977, “The Queen is perfection”. On a 1986 visit she was reportedly closer and more familiar than ever, but at nearly 60 her “movements are inclined to be slower, her smile reflects more understanding than youthful sparkle […] and there were times when she looked as if she would rather kick off her shoes and have a cup of tea”. </p>
<p>By the 1980s, the glamour baton had passed to the next generation, notably the hugely popular Diana, Princess of Wales. Proving that royalty was not immune from modern life, three of the Queen’s four children divorced, most publicly and scandalously. Ironically (perhaps absurdly), there were accusations the Queen was out of touch with the times. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483616/original/file-20220908-42287-6xdmsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth and Christchurch mayor Hamish Hay during her 1977 visit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Relationship with a colony</h2>
<p>As power devolved around the Commonwealth during the Queen’s reign, the relationship with New Zealand inevitably changed too. Notions of a settler colony of Anglo-Celtic descendants emulating a “superior” British imperial economy, politics and culture – with a distant monarch as head of state – became outmoded. </p>
<p>Most importantly, the colonisation and assimilation of Indigenous peoples were challenged. </p>
<p>As historian Michael Dawson has shown, Māori involvement was minimal at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. There was no Māori welcome or presence in the opening or closing ceremonies, with only a musical performance as athletes and officials arrived in the country. </p>
<p>It was left to King Korokī and Te Puea Herangi to hold their own welcome for athletes at Ngāruawāhia. The prime minister of the day, Sidney Holland, attended and considered the event an excellent example of good race relations. But rather than Māori being partners in the planning of the first royal tour, they were largely expected to fit in, mostly providing entertainment. </p>
<p>In the original tour plans, Arawa were expected to represent all Māori during a lunch stop. Only when they asked for more time were plans changed. Meanwhile, the Kīngitanga had to lobby hard for the Queen to visit Ngāruawāhia. This eventually happened, with the Queen and Duke spontaneously deciding to spend more time there than had been allocated. </p>
<p>Importantly, through the Queen’s reign, the Crown’s role in redressing the past became an essential part of New Zealand’s post-colonial development. After much agitation, the Waitangi Tribunal was set up in 1975 to investigate Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. </p>
<p>In 1987, Māori became an official language. Rather than assimilating into a devolved settler state, decolonisation came to mean <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/3436">mana motuhake</a> for Māori. </p>
<p>By the 1974 Commonwealth Games – the “friendly games” – in Christchurch, Māori “were centrally incorporated” into the festivities, including a leading role in the opening ceremony. By the 1990 games in Auckland, also the 150th anniversary of signing of the Treaty, emerging biculturalism was evident in the medals incorporating Māori design. </p>
<h2>Abandoning Britain?</h2>
<p>In late 20th century New Zealand there were simmering republican sentiments. At the same time, because of the regenerating Iwi-Crown relationship under the Treaty, there was a reluctance to move away from Britain constitutionally. </p>
<p>Ironically, it was Britain going its own way – most notably by joining the EEC in 1973 – that moved the issue along. Symbolically, the number and length of temporary working visas for New Zealanders were cut back, despite an “OE” in the “mother country” being still viewed as a rite of passage. </p>
<p>There were other reasons republicanism was not a priority for the state. The shift towards a laissez-faire, free-market economic ideology shifted the ground; the move to a new electoral system in the 1990s underscored New Zealand’s growing independence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-king-charles-mean-for-the-monarchy-australia-and-the-republican-movement-182662">What would King Charles mean for the monarchy, Australia and the republican movement?</a>
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<p>But through those decades of change, the popularity of the Queen provided a constant. If there was a moment when the republican break might have happened, it was missed. New Zealand has been more reticent than Australia, where a referendum on becoming a republic was only narrowly defeated in 1999. </p>
<p>New Zealand has also retired and then later reinstated the royal honours system. Attempts to change the flag and remove the Union Jack from its corner came to nothing in a 2016 referendum.</p>
<p>And New Zealand still doesn’t have its own constitution outlining its fundamental laws of government. Rather, we rely on a conglomerate constitution, messily located in 45 acts of parliament. And of course, the head of state remains a hereditary monarch who lives half a world away. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483618/original/file-20220908-9198-a7czet.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Queen during a walkabout at the America’s Cup Village in Auckland, part of her Jubilee tour in 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Aotearoa after Elizabeth</h2>
<p>The Queen’s death presents another opportunity for New Zealand to reassess its nationhood – and perhaps be creative. </p>
<p>King Charles and the Queen Consort Camilla simply don’t have the appeal of Elizabeth II. But postcolonial Britain and the modern, diverse Commonwealth still have much to offer an increasingly multicultural New Zealand. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/prince-charles-the-conventions-that-will-stop-him-from-meddling-as-king-106722">Prince Charles: the conventions that will stop him from meddling as King</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Most importantly, it is time for a broad conversation about how the various dymamics of contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand – liberal and egalitarian traditions, Pākeha settler notions of governance, Te Ao Māori, and the special Iwi-Crown connection – might work together in the future. </p>
<p>After all, Māori signed the Treaty with Queen Victoria at least in part as protection from the behaviour of unruly settlers. Does 21st-century New Zealand still need a monarch to protect against settler colonialism? </p>
<p>Whatever the answer, any move away from the Crown needs to honour the history of which Elizabeth II has been such a significant part.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Over the 70 years of her reign, Queen Elizabeth II has been part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s living history, touching everything from the role of women to the Treaty of Waitangi.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803052022-03-31T22:07:45Z2022-03-31T22:07:45ZPutting te Tiriti at the centre of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public policy can strengthen democracy – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455365/original/file-20220330-5009-oi8dn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C4903%2C1555&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>ACT party leader David Seymour’s demand that a <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/24/act-party-wants-referendum-on-co-governance-with-maori/">referendum on Māori co-governance</a> be a bottom line in any coalition agreement with the National Party was, if nothing else, well timed. </p>
<p>With the prime minister confirming public consultation on <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/co-governance-firmly-on-top-of-political-agenda">co-governance</a> will begin this year, the place of <a href="https://www.archives.govt.nz/discover-our-stories/the-treaty-of-waitangi">te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> (Treaty of Waitangi) in the nation’s life is front and centre once more.</p>
<p>Specifically, Seymour says successive governments’ interpretations of the English language version of te Tiriti – which differs in important ways from the Māori text negotiated at Waitangi in 1840 – is <a href="https://www.act.org.nz/david_seymour_speech_to_milford_rotary_club">creating an “ethno-state”</a>. He was later <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/barry-soper-cabinet-to-consider-next-steps-on-maori-self-determination-plan/">reported as saying</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The government] believes there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>ACT’s referendum would ask voters to agree that the Treaty means:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>all citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties</p></li>
<li><p>all political authority comes from the people by democratic means including universal suffrage, regular and free elections with a secret ballot</p></li>
<li><p>New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1508593807398297600"}"></div></p>
<p>Government ministers, the Māori Party and others have argued Seymour’s policy is itself divisive, and National Party leader Christopher Luxon has <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/luxon-rules-out-co-governance-referendum-seymour-says-dont-run-away-from-hard-issues/QC6ZKQXM7BIA3UNQPNKZULNYGA/">ruled out</a> a referendum if he forms a government. But away from the electoral front line, important work on how te Tiriti can be applied at a policy level is already going on. </p>
<p>In 2020, we developed a policy evaluation method called “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1468796819896466">Critical Tiriti Analysis</a>” (CTA) to address the problem of policy failure by ensuring distinctive Māori voices are heard. We recently explained these ideas to over 300 people at a public seminar.</p>
<p>CTA could be used by co-governance entities, but it doesn’t require them. It is especially relevant at the policy evaluation level, and is being used in government departments and elsewhere to help give Māori people – and their values and expectations – a fair chance of influencing policy decisions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crown-is-maori-too-citizenship-sovereignty-and-the-treaty-of-waitangi-111168">The Crown is Māori too - citizenship, sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How CTA works</h2>
<p>CTA uses five indicators to evaluate policy against te Tiriti’s main elements: the preamble, three written articles and the oral commitment to protect “wairuatanga” (an expression of custom, spirituality and psychological well-being):</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455387/original/file-20220331-25-cxed6l.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of the original Tiriti o Waitangi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>The preamble creates an expectation of good government, so CTA asks how policy has been informed by substantive Māori values and expectations, and seeks evidence that Māori are equal or lead parties in the policy process</p></li>
<li><p>Article 1 granted the British Crown “<a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/kawanatanga-maori-engagement-with-the-state/page-1">kāwanatanga</a>” over non-Māori people in Aotearoa. CTA requires the demonstration of equitable Māori engagement or leadership in prioritising, resourcing, implementing and evaluating policy</p></li>
<li><p>“<a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?keywords=tino+rangatiratanga">Tino rangatiratanga</a>” was promised in Article 2, so CTA requires evidence of meaningful and expert Māori involvement in policy drafting, and measures the influence and authority of Māori values in the policy process</p></li>
<li><p>Article 3 of te Tiriti confers the right of Māori to actively engage in and influence <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-33-4172-2">policy development, implementation and evaluation</a>. CTA involves evidence of Māori exercising their citizenship as Māori in policy development</p></li>
<li><p>And finally, in terms of wairuatanga, CTA seeks policy acknowledgement of the importance of wairua, <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/rongoa-medicinal-use-of-plants/page-1#:%7E:text=Rongo%C4%81">rongoā</a> and wellness.</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-parihaka-to-he-puapua-its-time-pakeha-new-zealanders-faced-their-personal-connections-to-the-past-164553">From Parihaka to He Puapua: it’s time Pākehā New Zealanders faced their personal connections to the past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>CTA in practice</h2>
<p>In 2020 we used CTA to review the <a href="https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/primary-health-care-strategy">New Zealand Primary Healthcare Strategy</a>. It has since been used to evaluate government policies and practices including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213538320300448">cancer control plans</a> and disability strategies.</p>
<p>In 2019, Cabinet published a <a href="https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-19-5-te-tiriti-o-waitangi-treaty-waitangi-guidance">Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi Guidance</a> which set out questions policy advisers should consider in their advice to ministers. Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14687968211047902">CTA review</a> of the guidance suggested te Tiriti might also require asking the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>what contributions have Māori people and ideas made to the drafting of this advice?</p></li>
<li><p>what do Māori say are the issues to consider and their interests in this issue?</p></li>
<li><p>what evidence is there that this policy preserves Māori authority, peace and good order?</p></li>
<li><p>could this policy disadvantage Māori in ways that it does not disadvantage others?</p></li>
<li><p>why is the government (or local government) presuming to make this decision?</p></li>
<li><p>why does the decision not, in part or whole, belong to the sphere of tino rangatiratanga?</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Te Tiriti and liberal democracy</h2>
<p>Ultimately, CTA could strengthen the pillars of <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/43138/book.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">liberal democracy</a>, which developed precisely because people bring different values, experiences and aspirations to public life. Societies need to find fair and orderly ways of managing those differences. Suppressing them is not liberal and it’s not democratic.</p>
<p>When the ACT party formed a <a href="https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0811/NationalAct_Agreement.pdf">confidence and supply agreement</a> to support a National minority government in 2010, the <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-govt-support-un-rights-declaration">government agreed</a> that New Zealand would accept the United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-inquiries-find-unfair-treatment-and-healthcare-for-maori-this-is-how-we-fix-it-144939">Two inquiries find unfair treatment and healthcare for Māori. This is how we fix it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The declaration says treaties such as te Tiriti (the Māori text) should be honoured and that Indigenous democratic rights are no less important than anybody else’s. It explains how culture, language and resource rights have implications for what freedom and equality actually mean.</p>
<p>However, democracy doesn’t always meet these ideals. Māori have long been excluded from policy-making, leading to poor outcomes in areas like <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/inquiries/kaupapa-inquiries/health-services-and-outcomes-inquiry/">health</a>.</p>
<p>CTA is intended as a mana-enhancing process based on the intent and actual wording of <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/">te Tiriti</a>. This focus can help ensure government policies reflect Māori understandings, expectations and aspirations. Because if policy making doesn’t reflect these things, Māori are not politically equal – and that’s not liberal or democratic.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-recognition-is-more-than-a-voice-to-government-its-a-matter-of-political-equality-154057">Indigenous recognition is more than a Voice to Government - it's a matter of political equality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ensuring a Māori voice</h2>
<p>These are first steps. Further development of CTA would consider how policy processes could be strengthened and how examples of effective policy making may be replicated. </p>
<p>We particularly want to see an active presence of Māori and Māori values in policy processes. This reflects our belief that effective public policy requires robust, critically and culturally informed engagement with the diversity of Māori policy thought and aspirations.</p>
<p>The CTA rationale involves meaningful Māori input throughout but also calls for a “final word” from Māori in the overall policy evaluation process, which should carry considerable weight.</p>
<p>At the same time, CTA does not diminish anyone else’s right to be well served by government policy. It doesn’t interpret te Tiriti to make anyone else feel “lucky to be here”. But it does provide protections against some people using policy to cause harm to others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Came receives research grant funding from the Marsden Fund. She is affiliated with STIR: Stop Institutional Racism.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan and Tim McCreanor do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>David Seymour says misinterpretation of the Treaty risks creating an ‘ethno-state’. But ‘Critical Tiriti Analysis’ aims to enhance democracy by ensuring a Māori voice at the heart of policy making.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityHeather Came, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Public Health, Auckland University of TechnologyTim McCreanor, Professor Race Relations, Health and Wellbeing, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1784082022-03-04T01:48:35Z2022-03-04T01:48:35ZBehind the ‘inclusive’ window dressing, the NZ-UK free trade deal disappoints politically and economically<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449948/original/file-20220303-17-19tdou2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C3389%2C2220&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The free trade agreement (FTA) signed between <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-concluded-but-not-in-force/new-zealand-united-kingdom-free-%20%20trade-agreement/resources/#bookmark0">New Zealand and the United Kingdom</a> this week demonstrates the intransigence of political leaders and their official advisers in the face of concerted demands to rethink the country’s trade policy paradigm. </p>
<p>Those demands reached a high point with the deeply unpopular Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (<a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/comprehensive-and-progressive-agreement-for-trans-pacific-partnership-cptpp/">CPTPP</a>), which was rescued from the even more unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (<a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-concluded-but-not-in-force/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-tpp/">TPP</a>) after the US had quit. </p>
<p>Opposition to the TPP/CPTPP was part of an international backlash that saw a series of high-profile negotiations abandoned or seriously stalled.</p>
<p>These included the EU’s mega-deal with the US for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ttip/">TTIP</a>), the Trade in Services Agreement (<a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/negotiations/tisa/trade-in-services-agreement">TiSA</a>) across 23 mainly rich parties, the Canada and EU Trade Agreement (CETA) and others.</p>
<p>As I wrote in <a href="https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/the-fire-economy/">The FIRE Economy</a> in 2015, this backlash was part of a broader rejection of neoliberal globalisation and the massive private power accumulated by global capital, especially finance capital. </p>
<p>The global financial crisis had brought a human face to structural wealth and income inequality in Anglo-American countries (as Thomas Piketty documented in his book <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/17/capital-twenty-first-century-thomas-piketty-review">Capital in the 21st Century</a>), and to its unequal gender and race impacts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449941/original/file-20220303-8225-1eay3iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Then-trade minister David Parker and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announce the start of free trade negotiations with the UK in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Inclusive trade’</h2>
<p>Free trade agreements were powerful vehicles to advance and lock in that failed model. Multinationals could even sue host governments offshore through investor-state dispute settlement (<a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/comprehensive-and-progressive-agreement-for-trans-pacific-partnership-cptpp/understanding-cptpp/investment-and-isds/">ISDS</a>) arbitration for moves that undermined their value or profits. </p>
<p>Equally, the secrecy under which trade pacts were negotiated, and the fetters they put on future governments’ policy options, were an affront to democracy and self-determination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-is-overdue-for-an-open-and-honest-debate-about-21st-century-trade-relations-160922">New Zealand is overdue for an open and honest debate about 21st-century trade relations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So Labour faced a quandary when it formed a government in October 2017. Having voted against the ratification of the TPPA, it scrambled to justify its U-turn to support the CPTPP as “progressive”. </p>
<p>In April 2018, the then trade minister, David Parker, announced “<a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/modernising-our-trade-policy-trade-all-have-your-say">Trade for All</a>”, a slogan <a href="https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/october/tradoc_153846.pdf">borrowed from the EU</a>, to develop a “progressive and inclusive” trade agenda. A year later he appointed the <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/Trade-General/Trade-policy/Trade-for-All-report.pdf">Trade for All Advisory Board</a>, which delivered its moderate report and recommendations in November 2019. </p>
<p>The government took another seven months to <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/proactive-release-trade-for-all-advisory-board-recommendations-report-on-progress/">respond</a>. Meanwhile, New Zealand continued pursuing its usual agenda through the 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, in the World Trade Organisation, in negotiations with the EU – and in informal pre-Brexit talks with the UK. </p>
<p>The one significant change was Labour’s decision not to include ISDS provisions in future agreements. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1498362383533690881"}"></div></p>
<h2>Trade and the Treaty</h2>
<p>Predictably, the government adopted the advisory board’s “soft” recommendations that could be accommodated within the existing trade policy paradigm, including new chapters on “inclusive trade”.</p>
<p>But the government rejected recommendations that could make a substantive difference. These included a moratorium on new commitments pending a comprehensive review of digital trade policy, and reviewing the widely criticised Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi exception that allows “more favourable treatment” to Māori, subject to various conditions, but does not protect treaty compliance measures more generally. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-wants-to-join-a-pacific-trade-deal-why-that-might-not-be-a-risk-worth-taking-162900">The UK wants to join a Pacific trade deal – why that might not be a risk worth taking</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also rejected was a proposal that the “national interest analysis”, which accompanies any FTA text to parliament, be prepared independently rather than by the trade ministry that negotiated it.</p>
<p>Since then, the pandemic has fuelled calls to waive intellectual property rules in trade agreements that guarantee Big Pharma’s patents over medical supplies. The UK and EU oppose the waiver. </p>
<p>In December 2021 the Waitangi Tribunal found the CPTPP’s electronic commerce chapter, especially its rules on offshoring of data, which are now standard in many FTAs, breached the Crown’s Treaty of Waitangi <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/tribunal-releases-report-on-electronic-commerce-chapter-in-cptpp/">obligations</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Clip-on’ agreements</h2>
<p>That context explains what we see in the new UK FTA. Of its 33 chapters, two-thirds could be largely cut and pasted from the TPPA. </p>
<p>Those chapters constrain the future policy and regulatory options available to governments on (among other things) import tariffs, food labelling and standards, intellectual property rights, investment, financial services, state-owned enterprises and government procurement. </p>
<p>Many remaining chapters on trade and gender, Māori, development, and small and medium enterprises are clustered under an “inclusive trade sub-committee”. While these are new to New Zealand’s agreements, they mirror the “inclusive trade” agenda designed by the EU, Canada and others to defuse the backlash against these deals. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/old-wine-in-new-bottles-why-the-nz-uk-free-trade-agreement-fails-to-confront-the-challenges-of-a-post-covid-world-170621">Old wine in new bottles – why the NZ-UK free trade agreement fails to confront the challenges of a post-COVID world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I describe these chapters as “clip-ons”. None is enforceable. Most promise to co-operate on sharing “best practice”, ensuring access to information, promoting exchanges and facilitating opportunities to take advantage of an agreement that works for big business more than ordinary consumers. </p>
<p>The preamble and the Māori trade chapter “note” the UK was the original signatory to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but eschew any ongoing obligations. The UK rejects any inference that it recognises Māori genetic resources and traditional knowledge as forms of intellectual property, or that these affect the UK’s laws. </p>
<p>A footnote records that the UK has no legal or financial obligation to explore or undertake any of the proposed co-operation activities. </p>
<p>The labour and environment chapters reiterate existing international obligations. Each country promises to comply with its domestic laws and try not to dilute them to get a trade or investment advantage, and to promote voluntary corporate social responsibility. These chapters are enforceable through a tailored dispute process.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1498394313494908930"}"></div></p>
<h2>Did NZ try for a better deal?</h2>
<p>Maybe New Zealand’s negotiators sought to do more that was genuinely progressive, but the secrecy surrounding the negotiations means we will never know. </p>
<p>The government must be judged on the deal it agreed to – which fails to confront the need for more fundamental reform, compounded by allowing a mere ten days for submissions on the 1,700-page text.</p>
<p>And for what? There are the usual grand headlines that the FTA is worth NZ$1 billion to exporters with a <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/01/nz-and-uk-free-trade-deal-signed-worth-up-to-1-billion/">50% increase in exports</a> to the UK. </p>
<p>But the government’s own <a href="https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/Trade-agreements/UK-NZ-FTA/NZ-UK-FTA-National-Interest-Analysis.pdf">economic modelling</a> projects a mere 0.3% increase on current GDP when the agreement comes into force fully – a rate of 0.02% per year over 15 years. Hardly a bonanza.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Kelsey is a pro bono technical adviser for the Ngā Toki Whakarururanga on trade policy and negotiations.</span></em></p>Government modelling projects a mere 0.3% increase on current GDP when the NZ-UK free trade agreement comes into full force. Does that justify the concessions the deal makes?Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653812021-08-02T00:00:08Z2021-08-02T00:00:08ZHas the High Court shown the way for successful Māori claims to marine title?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413883/original/file-20210730-15-1nhu9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C5146%2C2043&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly two decades on from the bitter political battle over ownership of the seabed and foreshore, a recent precedent-setting <a href="https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2021/2021-NZHC-1025.pdf">High Court decision</a> passed almost without comment in the mainstream media.</p>
<p>Perhaps that is a sign the country as a whole has moved on. Various appeals now await a hearing, but if the judgment survives in its current form it may offer a way forward for many successful applications for customary marine title (CMT) and protected customary rights (PCRs) by Māori.</p>
<p>The case in question mainly involved whānau and hapū from <a href="http://www.whakatohea.co.nz/">Whakatōhea</a>, but also their neighbours <a href="https://www.ngatiawa.iwi.nz/">Ngāti Awa</a>, Ngāi Tai, Te Ūpokorehe and others, and their claim to the takutai moana (common marine and coastal area) in and around Ōpōtiki and Ōhiwa harbour in the eastern Bay of Plenty. </p>
<p>The claims were made under the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2011/0003/latest/DLM3213131.html">Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act</a>. Seen by many as only a marginal improvement on the <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/repeal-foreshore-and-seabed-act-announced">now defunct</a> Foreshore and Seabed Act, its thresholds for successful applications were felt to be still too high.</p>
<p>So, while there may have been limited expectations of Justice Churchman’s ruling, it’s safe to say he delivered something very much worth talking about.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Coastline near Ōpōtiki" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414069/original/file-20210802-79497-1rfbsqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coastline near Ōpōtiki in the eastern Bay of Plenty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Winning customary marine title</h2>
<p>To understand why the judge’s decision was so noteworthy, it’s important to grasp what are considered three key factors in determining an application for customary marine title:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the retention of land adjacent to the claimed foreshore </p></li>
<li><p>the issuing of resource consents by local authorities</p></li>
<li><p>third-party (public) use of the foreshore and seabed.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>On all these, Justice Churchman ruled in favour of the claimants. He found the retention of adjacent land was not important, and loss of land may even have led to increased use of the takutai moana. </p>
<p>The judge recognised the importance local authorities have placed on resource consent consultation with tangata whenua as evidence of continued authority. And he found third-party use was protected under the legislation, and so could not be evidence of interruptions to use by the applicants.</p>
<p>As a result of these findings, the issuing of CMT may not be as difficult as was previously thought — and that is perhaps the most surprising aspect of the decision.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1390956931422982146"}"></div></p>
<h2>An overwhelmingly positive decision</h2>
<p>It’s true the court seemed to follow the Crown’s preference for what it has termed “large natural groupings” (LNGs) for treaty settlement redress, rather than smaller hapū or whānau groups.</p>
<p>The consequent reliance on whanaungatanga (kinship) that seemed to work in this case may be strained in the long run, as some LNGs have been after treaty settlements.</p>
<p>Here, the court relied on Canadian jurisprudence when providing for non-exclusive orders covering a combination of groups including Whakatōhea, Te Ūpokorehe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai and others.</p>
<p>Some fear this mix of different interests, without specific geographical and legal boundaries, could possibly open the door to fresh grievances. </p>
<p>But this is quite picky in the context of an overwhelmingly positive decision for many claimants.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-parihaka-to-he-puapua-its-time-pakeha-new-zealanders-faced-their-personal-connections-to-the-past-164553">From Parihaka to He Puapua: it’s time Pākehā New Zealanders faced their personal connections to the past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Customary rights more challenging</h2>
<p>In contrast to the supposedly more difficult “macro” claims for CMT, the applications for PCRs – the “micro” activity-based rights – weren’t as readily approved.</p>
<p>The specific customary rights in the Whakatōhea application were extremely varied. Unlike CMT, multiple orders for PCRs could be provided to different groups like whānau and hapū, rather than just iwi-sized groups.</p>
<p>The key was evidence customary activity was continually practised on the takutai moana. The applications included harvesting kaimoana (seafood) and fishing, exercising kaitiakitanga (guardianship), mana motuhake (independence) and rangatiratanga (self-determination), using resources for medicinal and healing purposes, and resource extraction.</p>
<p>Most of these activities, especially those related to all fishing except for whitebait, were specifically excluded by the Takutai Moana Act, meaning many (though not all) applications for PCRs were unsuccessful.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-crown-is-maori-too-citizenship-sovereignty-and-the-treaty-of-waitangi-111168">The Crown is Māori too - citizenship, sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Small but tangible gains</h2>
<p>Where might this all lead? There is no immediate financial windfall, such as in a treaty settlement. Exclusion of third parties was never going to be possible, and fisheries (other than whitebait) are completely excluded from the process.</p>
<p>Non-Māori will be almost entirely unaffected. The holders of CMT will obtain certain proprietary rights, such as for minerals other than gold, silver, petrol and uranium, and ownership of newly found taonga tūturu (Māori archaeological objects).</p>
<p>They will also have some measure of co-management of conservation permission rights, protection of wāhi tapu (sacred sites) and a stronger influence on the coastal policy statement planning process. </p>
<p>These won’t be of great use to all applicants, but they will be valuable to many.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Entrance to NZ Supreme Court" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413890/original/file-20210730-13-1cnr72u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time will tell how robust Justice Churchman’s decision is, including possible appeals all the way to the Supreme Court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Just the beginning?</h2>
<p>As Treaty settlement negotiations slowly wind down, these applications for CMT and PCRs in the High Court are only just beginning. While many applicants have preferred the other option of direct negotiations with the Crown, the Crown has yet to begin a single negotiation.</p>
<p>If and when it does, the Crown’s reaction to Justice Churchman’s decision will be interesting. The Crown Law Office did not appeal his decision, leaving that to the <a href="http://www.landownerscoalition.co.nz/">Landowners’ Coalition</a> (an incorporated society claiming to be a “voice for private property rights”), which is an interested party to nearly every application. </p>
<p>A number of whānau and hapū, some of which were awarded PCRs but not CMT, also appealed the decision. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/separatist-or-radically-inclusive-what-nzs-he-puapua-report-really-says-about-the-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-163719">Separatist or radically inclusive? What NZ’s He Puapua report really says about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Only time will tell if the Whakatōhea decision can withstand possible appeals that may run all the way to the Supreme Court. But if it does survive in its current form, it will be a template for future successful applications.</p>
<p>It might also provide some legitimacy for a process that many had dismissed as largely worthless, precisely because of the perceived difficulty of obtaining successful orders for CMT and PCRs. </p>
<p>For that alone, Justice Churchman’s reasoned and measured boldness should be applauded.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations winding down, customary marine title claims are only just beginning. A recent High Court decision could provide the way forward.Martin Fisher, Lecturer, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1594252021-04-22T00:33:26Z2021-04-22T00:33:26ZNew authority could transform Māori health, but only if it’s a leader, not a partner<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396416/original/file-20210421-13-1bwrw1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1261%2C24%2C4130%2C3564&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images/Hagen Hopkins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of a <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/major-reforms-will-make-healthcare-accessible-all-nzers">major overhaul of the health system</a>, health minister Andrew Little yesterday <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/building-new-zealand-health-service-works-all-new-zealanders">announced</a> a new Māori health authority. </p>
<p>The authority will be able to commission primary health services and make joint decisions with a newly created centralised health agency. It’s a simple idea, and one with radically transformative potential. But it’s not new. </p>
<p>In 2019, the <a href="https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/report-on-stage-one-of-health-services-and-outcomes-released/">Waitangi Tribunal</a> found consistent Crown failure in the health care and well-being of Māori. It recommended establishing an independent authority to oversee Māori primary health services.</p>
<p>The government’s announcement responds to a 2020 <a href="https://systemreview.health.govt.nz/">Health and Disability System review</a>, which also called for a separate Māori health authority, but could not come to a consensus on the powers it should have. Four of the six members thought the idea that it should have the power to commission health services had such merit they <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/disputes-over-powers-of-proposed-mori-health-authority">dissented</a> from the recommendation the authority should have only advisory powers. </p>
<p>The potential is for a Māori primary health system explicitly focused on Māori needs. Māori decision makers would decide what needs to be done, how and by whom. The success of the authority hinges on how independent it will be, and its accountability to Māori people.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1384590053897216004"}"></div></p>
<h2>By Māori for Māori</h2>
<p>The 2019 Waitangi Tribunal report also found that decision-making models don’t adequately reflect Māori experiences of what works and why. Tureiti Lady Moxon, one of the claimants to the tribunal, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300035517/the-mori-health-authority-plan-that-divided-health-review-panel">explained</a> the proposed authority’s logic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We would prefer to be the designers of our own destiny.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the new authority will provide policy advice, its most important influence will come from the decisions it makes about the primary health services to purchase and from whom. It will then be able to decide whether these providers do a good enough job to have their funding continued. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/maori-and-pasifika-leaders-report-racism-in-government-health-advisory-groups-112779">Māori and Pasifika leaders report racism in government health advisory groups</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Opposition leader Judith Collins claimed there wouldn’t be much public support for a “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/124903179/judith-collins-lashes-dhb-overhaul-as-too-much-wellington-bureaucracy-and-a-separatist-model">separatist model</a>” that would give “people operations based on race, not on need”. </p>
<p>But the idea that anybody would demand an operation they don’t need is not a sensible starting point for the serious debate we need to have about how the authority should work with other parts of the revamped health system.</p>
<h2>Getting funding levels right and eliminating racism</h2>
<p>The tribunal found chronic underfunding is one of the reasons for poor Māori health outcomes. It recommended the Crown and the health inquiry claimants work out a methodology for determining how much money is needed to achieve fair outcomes. </p>
<p>It’s a complex question at the intersection of <a href="https://archives.govt.nz/discover-our-stories/the-treaty-of-waitangi">te Tiriti o Waitangi</a> policy, moral philosophy and health economics. Answering it accurately will determine how well the authority can do its job.</p>
<p>But an equally important question is the institutional racism the tribunal found in the health system, and how this gets in the way of people’s opportunities for good health. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1384743139190050819"}"></div></p>
<p>Many questions remain about the scope the authority will have to develop the health system to give everybody the same opportunity for good health. </p>
<p>How will it be accountable to Māori as well as to the health minister? How will Māori be able to show they have confidence in the knowledge and expertise of the people appointed to the authority?</p>
<p>What relationships will it have with the ministry of health and the newly created public health agency? How independent will it be and will there be significant Māori engagement in the ministry’s oversight function? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-inquiries-find-unfair-treatment-and-healthcare-for-maori-this-is-how-we-fix-it-144939">Two inquiries find unfair treatment and healthcare for Māori. This is how we fix it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yesterday’s announcement spoke of enabling Māori “<a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/building-new-zealand-health-service-works-all-new-zealanders">leadership and partnership</a>”. But leadership and partnership don’t always work well together. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=XFMTMq0pNyUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">bicultural partnership</a> people often read into te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Māori text) or the Treaty of Waitangi (English version) usually positions the Crown as senior partner and Māori as the junior partner. This view doesn’t foster the independent leadership the authority will need if it’s to make a real difference and, as the health minister said, give “<a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/building-new-zealand-health-service-works-all-new-zealanders">true effect to tino rangatiratanga</a>”, or Māori people’s authority to make decisions for themselves.</p>
<h2>Considering te Tiriti in all decisions</h2>
<p>We have developed the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/metrics/10.1177/1468796819896466">Critical Tiriti Analysis</a> policy framework, which could help ensure the transformed health system respects te Tiriti and puts the Māori health authority in the best position to succeed. </p>
<p>The framework requires policy makers to consider how te Tiriti informs both existing and new policies. In relation to yesterday’s announcements, it provokes the following questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How will the health system maintain tika (correct) relationships with mana whenua (groups with authority over land), mātāwaka (kinship groups) and other Māori communities?</p></li>
<li><p>How will the health system’s processes, actions and decision making be informed and shaped by Māori worldviews?</p></li>
<li><p>How will Māori-led decision making and leadership (which is a bigger aspiration than partnership) be put into practice across the sector?</p></li>
<li><p>How will barriers to Māori advancement, such as institutional racism, be eliminated?</p></li>
<li><p>Given the history of health inequities, how will resources be distributed and prioritised to ensure equitable outcomes for Māori?</p></li>
<li><p>How will Māori worldviews, values, tikanga (correct processes) and wairuatanga (spirituality) be normalised within the health system?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The proposed changes are potentially transformative. But just how transformative depends on how these questions are answered and on the strength of the government’s commitment to no further breaches of te Tiriti. </p>
<p>Abolishing the authority, as the opposition National party proposes, would be such a breach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O’Sullivan was a parliamentary candidate for the Labour party in 1990 and 1993.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Came is affiliated with New Zealand Public Health Association, STIR: Stop Institutional Racism and Tāmaki Tiriti Workers. </span></em></p>The announcement of a new Māori health authority could radically transform health outcomes for Māori, but its success depends on how independent and accountable it will be.Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityHeather Came, Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1561982021-03-04T19:24:42Z2021-03-04T19:24:42ZHonouring Te Tiriti means ‘getting into the stream together’ — so this vice-chancellor has become a student again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387411/original/file-20210303-27-111dc6b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C6%2C4289%2C2861&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Massey University Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas (centre) attends her pōwhiri (welcome) in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As first-year students flooded onto campuses around the country this week, gripped with uncertainty and curiosity about their new lives, I too returned to university to learn.</p>
<p>For the first time since what feels like forever, but in reality was 1997 when I finished my PhD, I am now a bona fide university student.</p>
<p>It’s confronting to go back as an undergraduate online student (I’m doing a BA, through my own university, Massey University). But at the same time, it’s exciting and new. And for me, with a science background, stepping into the humanities is a whole other world. </p>
<p>The last time I was a student I used the scientific method; I tested, palpated and measured as a veterinary science undergraduate. In the humanities, it feels more fluid, more open to interpretation. As Vice-Chancellor I’ve known this, but to now be in it, well … I’ve surprised myself, because I’ve found I really like it.</p>
<p>I haven’t yet told my mother I’m doing a BA — she’ll find out when she reads this (sorry, Mum). I’ve been nervous about telling her; as a scientist in a family full of humanities graduates, I’ve always been a bit of a black sheep and was enthusiastically critical of my siblings’ choices as a youngster. </p>
<p>But increasingly I began to recognise our different disciplines have different ways of looking at the world, and that’s incredibly valuable for critical and creative thinking.</p>
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<img alt="Massey University Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas in a graduation procession" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387414/original/file-20210303-19-tdnj3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Back to class: Jan Thomas at last year’s graduation procession in Palmerston North.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Into the third space</h2>
<p>I’m now stepping into a new space. In the Aboriginal world, in my native Australia, they talk about the “third space” — a place where white people and Indigenous people come together to begin to understand the other’s perspective. </p>
<p>You don’t have to agree to it, but it’s essential to understand it, otherwise you’re constantly in tension. The two separate worlds just keep flowing on in parallel, and nothing ever truly changes.</p>
<p>My first course is <a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/programme-course/course.cfm?course_code=150114">He Tirohanga Taketake: Māori Perspectives</a>, taught by Te Rā Moriarty at <a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/explore/departments/school-maori-knowledge/school-maori-knowledge_home.cfm">Te Putahi-a-Toi</a>. We’re studying perspectives from Māori authors, through Māori teachers, alongside Māori and non-Māori students, gaining a deeper understanding of concepts such as tapu, mana, and whakapapa. </p>
<p>We’re examining social structures within Māoridom, the influence of colonisation, and the Māori world view on things such as the environment, family and personal characteristics such as humility and respect for kaumātua. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-century-that-profoundly-changed-universities-and-their-campuses-151765">A century that profoundly changed universities and their campuses</a>
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<p>I’m asking myself as I go, if I am standing in a Māori person’s shoes, what does the world look like?</p>
<p>Well, it looks pretty different. And that’s why I believe fostering understanding is essential to constructing the way forward together.</p>
<p>Although I managed to pass te reo Māori to level 5 at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa over three years, I feel I’ve still got so far to go. I’m not even dipping a full toe into the water yet — maybe just the toenail.</p>
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<img alt="Whare kai building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387616/original/file-20210303-13-lffyjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The whare kai, part of Te Putahi-a-Toi, on Massey University’s Manawatū campus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Strength and direction</h2>
<p>The world has changed dramatically over the past five to ten years, and many businesses and institutions now have strong aspirations to incorporate Te Tiriti o Waitangi into how they operate. Massey is no exception. </p>
<p>But it’s got to be more than just lip service, more than just te reo greetings in corporate emails. If we’re going to get the partnership right (and I recognise there’s a better word than “partnership” — perhaps fusing or blending), the responsibility has to fall on all of us. </p>
<p>Everyone has to work on it. And for me, entering the third space, I’m not trying to “be Māori”, but I know I’ve got to understand Māori perspectives and why others might want certain things. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guaranteed-maori-representation-in-local-government-is-about-self-determination-and-its-good-for-democracy-154538">Guaranteed Māori representation in local government is about self-determination — and it's good for democracy</a>
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<p>Sure, it might help me avoid giving offence, and that’s essential. But more than that, we might find areas of common interest, things that make meaning for both parts of the partnership. I know if I’m going to lead a university that upholds diversity, equity and excellence in Aotearoa, I need to engage fully.</p>
<p>There are te reo Māori terms for the sides of the stream and the middle of the stream. The sides are “au taha” — the side currents, where the water doesn’t flow swiftly. In the middle, it’s “au kaha”, which has more strength, direction and forward momentum. </p>
<p>Historically, we’ve had Pākehā on one side of the stream and Māori on the other. We’ve got to get into the middle of the stream together, au kaha, and move forward together down the river. </p>
<p>Don’t be satisfied paddling in the easy bits on the side, but find moments to meet in the middle. Get right into the stream, and be brave enough to work in that (sometimes) turbulent place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Thomas is the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University, where she is also now studying.</span></em></p>A veterinary scientist by training, Massey University Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas has turned to the humanities to learn more about Māori. Here she explains why.Jan Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.