Living up to our founding principles

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

In response to today's column, it is worth noting that one of Aotearoa's foremost experts on our founding principles, Dame Claudia Orange, told The Gisborne Herald this month that Maori wards should be expected — if the principles of partnership and participation enshrined in the Treaty of Waitangi are there to ensure fair coverage of all voices in the community.

Here is a key founding principle, in Article 2 of te Tiriti: “The Queen of England agrees to protect the chiefs, the subtribes and all the people of New Zealand in the unqualified exercise1 of their chieftainship2 over their lands, villages and all their treasures3.”

Dame Claudia's response to controversy over the Government decision to abolish a law that allows local referendums to veto decisions by councils to establish Maori wards was that she was glad New Zealand had a document its people could abide by to help ensure equality.

She struggled to understand the strength of bias against allowing Maori any degree of authority to govern Maori — Maori wards specifically — and to give a voice for Maori points of view.

Dame Claudia noted that 40 chiefs in this region signed the Treaty over three weeks in May 1840.

The high proportion of Maori in the Tairawhiti population, and the strength of iwi presence, meant Maori wards should be expected to help ensure fair coverage for all voices in the community, she said.

“We have a key moment in time. We have to get committed to moving forward. We might not have some changes Maori are looking for but we are moving towards them.”

PS: It was suggested to today's columnist that he cut back on the Trump-style incendiary language and reckless hyperbole, to instead make his case on its merits. He replied that he had chosen his words carefully, they were his honest beliefs and he wanted people to note the strength of feeling out there regarding this issue.

Footnotes —

1. “Unqualified exercise” of the chieftainship — would emphasise to a chief the Queen's intention to give them complete control according to their customs. “Tino” has the connotation of “quintessential”.

2. “Chieftainship”: this concept has to be understood in the context of Maori social and political organisation as at 1840. The accepted approximation today is “trusteeship”.

3. “Treasures”: As submissions to the Waitangi Tribunal have made clear, “taonga” refers to all dimensions of a tribal group's estate, material and non-material — heirlooms and wahi tapu (sacred places), ancestral lore and whakapapa (genealogies), etc.