Vote Treaty Negotiations – Maori Affairs
Rahui Katene
Wednesday 28 July 2010; 4.20pm

E te rangatu pou mua o te reo o te whare, tena koe. E aku koko tataki tena koutou katoa

We come to this Vote in the context of a damning statement from the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights, namely that “the Treaty’s principles appear to be vulnerable to political discretion, resulting in their perpetual insecurity and instability.”

Now of course we understand that the appropriations for Vote Treaty Negotiations is not the sole and exclusive authority of the Treaty principles but it is as good a place as any to start.

And I have to say we have been generally very impressed – as is the Select Committee - with the momentum driven by the Minister towards the aspirational goal of achieving just and durable settlements.

It is very heartening that practically the moment the Coalition Agreement was negotiated and Ministerial warrants signed, the Minister had taken off at a cracking pace.

Over the last 18 months, this Government can now boast having reached 39 significant negotiation milestones; including seven deeds of settlements. Now, that is something to be proud of.

There are also some achievements which distinguish this Vote and that includes - recognising the progress since the Te Kokiri Ngatai Hui held last year;’ - the Minister’s commitment to addressing issues relating to the asset value of the land bank; - or the investment in the rangatira-to-rangatira approach preferred by iwi.

This third concept – the promotion of chief-to-chief negotiation – is something that we campaigned on and brought into the coalition so it is great to see that coming into fruition.

So with such positive progress being advanced, how is it that the Special Rapporteur could be so harsh in his comments about political discretion?

The answer lies in one word – Tuhoe.

While the pace of settlement negotiations is commendable, the manifestation of Treaty principles is primarily observed in practice.

And so when the Government failed to honour commitments that Tuhoe felt had been promised, specifically in the return of ownership of Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe, there were many questions asked about how genuine the commitment was to its dealing with iwi, and specifically in this case Tuhoe.

For any one who has questions around the Tuhoe claim, they need look no further than the research of historian Dame Judith Binney who has traced the history of the Crown’s treatment of Tuhoe back to 1871, and a promise made by Donald McLean, the native minister, for Tuhoe to enjoy a large degree of self-government of tribal authority over their area.

Twenty five years later in 1896, the Liberal Government of Richard Seddon passed a law granting a form of self-government to Tuhoe: a measure that Binney described as absolutely unique. The action was in direct relation to the Crown’s confiscation of large amounts of land in the Tuhoe nation, during the wars in 1866 and 1867 – confiscation that was neither justified nor compensated for.

Over the decades however, the initiative of Seddon was gradually whittled away and fifty years late, the Urewera National Park was formed out of the land that Tuhoe owned in 1896.

It is this history of the Urewera which Dame Binney has suggested the Prime Minister should have understood, before talk of precedents entered the frame.

The precedent we in the Maori Party are interested in – is how it can be possible that the Government can willingly offer up DOC estate for the purposes of mining and yet deny Tuhoe claims to the Urewera.

Finally, I want to leave the last word to a young boy from Kavanagh College who featured in that fine publication, the Otago Daily Times, this morning. Sam Murphy, a year thirteen student, wrote to the paper about his concerns that, and I quote, “in many cases the treaty has been ignored and dishonoured”.

He described some of the issues we have seen outlined in the estimates – such as land claims and the foreshore and seabed dispute – but he finished with a resounding challenge for this Minister, this Government and this Parliament.

“Most of all we need to understand and honour the Treaty of Waitangi, our nation’s founding document, a fruit of the goodwill and hope of those who signed it”.

Let us learn from the wisdom of our young, and put in place the policy commitment to ensure that the Treaty is indeed a foundation for goodwill, an opportunity to promote the rights and identity of our indigenous people, and a blueprint for unity.

ENDS

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