The Real Waitangi

Destiny New Zealand’s leadership delegation visited the official Waitangi celebrations over the last four days and offered a refreshingly new perspective on the Treaty of Waitangi.

Party leader Richard Lewis presented the Party’s position on the Treaty at the Te Tii Marae forum on Wednesday, and spoke passionately again at the Friday forum.

The constitution of Destiny NZ is committed to uphold Te Tiriti O Waitangi as a covenant between Crown and Maori that must be honoured.

Mr Lewis, of Ngati Awa and British descent, said: “the Treaty covenant between Crown and Maori provides the foundation for national unity but has been undermined by successive governments that have no concept of the spirit of the covenant partnership. As a result, the letter of the Treaty has been manipulated through unjust judicial and political processes.”

“It is time to get to the root issue. The Treaty partnership has been violated because the Crown has failed to be sincere and just in the true meaning of covenant. This is directly linked to the over-representation of Maori in many of New Zealand's worst statistics today”.

Mr Lewis says racial tension between Maori and Pakeha will never be stamped out until there is a complete reconciliation of the Treaty partnership through leaders who understand and can operate within the true meaning of the covenant, not merely the letter, and who are next-generation minded.

"Legislation and policy created on top of a broken relationship is inherently flawed and ultimately fails – we are witnessing evidence of that failure today," the leader of Destiny New Zealand commented.

In response to the Brash and Clarke incidents he said: “There is a lot of anger and tension here brought about by a genuine frustration through a lack of sincere consultation. Maori have lost faith in the government and unfortunately there is a small element that can’t contain that frustration and vent it physically. Sadly, that’s the image that our media will broadcast to the nation and all Maori have to live with the stigma it creates. There was a lot of sincere, passionate and peaceful dialogue here over the last three days, but of course that’s not the kind of news mainstream media reports. I have found the experience of the last few days invaluable”, he added.

Mr Lewis was invited to attend the Gold Coast Waitangi & NZ Culture Celebrations in Australia, where he officially open the event on Sunday 8th February to a crowd of approximately 4500.

For further information please contact http://www.destinynz.org.nz

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