09 Jun 2005

The Hon Winston Peter's Members Bill, namely the Principles of the Treay of Waitangi Deletion Bill, was voted down in a slight win of 63-51 in Parliament last night.

The intention of the Bill was to eliminate all references to the expressions "the principles of the Treaty", "the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi" and "the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles" from all New Zealand statues including preambles, interpretation, schedules, regulations and other proviso's included in or arising from each and every statute.

To see further discussion on the Bill, see Mai Chen's interview

The Bill may have failed its first hurdle but it had significant support from Act, National and United Future, so one must wonder what this next election could deliver. The Hon Winston Peter has claimed that he is not attacking the Treaty itself only the Treaty principles on the assumption that no one can define what the Treaty principles are. He has stated clearly that this issue will be the bottom line for any negotiations with the New Zealand First party after the election.

Many see the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi as giving practical effect to the actual Treaty itself. The principles themselves have been identified by the Courts in numerous decisions and in respect to many different contexts, with a common theme amongst all decisions, that the primary goal of the Treaty was a partnership. This is the opposite to the claims being made by opposition parties that the Treaty is actually about exclusion not inclusion.

National's Deputy Leader, Hon Gerry Brownlee said that his party supported the Deletion Bill because it was a core National Policy. New Zealand First and the National Party could make a dangerous duo when it comes to meeting obligations under the Treaty. National has indicated that it intends to rewrite the Treaty provisions in the Resource Management Act 1991 by removing the 34 references to Maori or spiritual values to provide for a more contained generic provision, which will provide for the values of all kiwi's.

National have also been quick to criticise the Treaty of Waitangi education programme's currently being run in Government departments by requesting a cost analysis of this process. What such a critique fails to think about is that the necessity of such an exercise could be related to an inadequate Treaty curriculum in school education. It seems that the failure to understand the Treaty does not come from the fact it is irrelevalant and vague it comes from the fact that it has not been de-mystified through proper education in the appropriate place, when students are studying the nations history at the pre-tertiary level.

The Waitangi Tribunal has a rich source of information that can support the appropriate step of creating resources for educating citizens on the history of New Zealand since 1840. This will be the first practical step in addressing the Treaty of Waitangi issue because it will provide a basis for informed debate rather than this constant battling against misinformation.

If we are truely all one citizen then why do we all have a different understanding on the history of New Zealand's relationship with its indigenous people and why do most citizens lack the ability to identify key events in New Zealand's history that concern that relationship? Maori rights may have only begun to be appropriately recognised in the last 20 years but claims to those rights have occurred since 1840. In the FoMA submissions on the Constitutional Reform project we have specifically asked for clarification on these key points.

Click on Government Resources for more information on the Treaty of Waitangi