Parliamentarians have formally been welcomed to Waitangi with PM Chris Hipkins urging Kiwis to not be afraid to discuss Maori-Crown relations while National Party leader Christopher Luxon labels Treaty 'a little experiment'. Video / NZ Herald
One of New Zealand’s most eminent experts on the Treaty of Waitangi, Dame Claudia Orange, says that changes to the Treaty are happening in both an evolutionary and revolutionary way.
The evolutionary settlement process had created what could be called a revolutionary shift in Maori Crown relationships including co-governance andco-management agreements, she writes in a new book, The Story of a Treaty, He Korero Treaty.
And she notes there has been a marked shift of focus within Government agencies. Since 2019, the Cabinet Office has required the public service to consider the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi in all policy development and implementation.
In the book’s final chapter, titled Towards Partnership, she departs from the more narrative style of the book to present her views for the future.
She believes it is essential that a commitment to the relationship become an established part of government practice.
In an interview about the book and the Treaty, she said there was little knowledge of what was happening.
“I think the general public is not aware that we are going through huge revolutionary changes in the country and in fact, we have taken that such a long way, there is no going back.
“It’s just a question now of how the public service works to implement the policies that come through from Government.”
She said the public might not like the conclusions she had drawn but Maori had signed the Treaty with the promise of shared authority.
“I’ve always called it a shared authority - and a partnership is always going to be a shared authority and shared power.
“That’s what Maori agreed to. No wonder they agreed to sign and when they said ‘He iwi tahi tatou’ they were happy and shook hands because it meant ‘together we are a nation, each of us contributing’.”
Dame Claudia Orange at home in Auckland with her new book on the Treaty of Waitangi and her old PhD thesis. Photo / Audrey Young
She said at the time of signing in 1840, Maori had been concerned that they might be treated badly as Aborigines were treated in Australia.
But they had been assured that they would have shared authority under Te Tiriti. They would not have signed without it.
“It was pertinent and relevant to their agreeing gradually. Many of them were still pretty suspicious because they looked at British power elsewhere, particularly in Australia and it worried them.”
And they were assured again and again that Queen Victoria had a special interest.
“The question then is ‘how do we share authority and power in this new nation?’
“What we are looking at is an evolution of the relationship between Crown or government and Maori.”
She said the evolution of change over the Treaty was not at an even pace.
“It’s always going to be a gradual one and it’s going to be up and down depending on what Government is in.”
It was almost inevitable that there would be some who would understand more fully the advantages of having shared involvement in decision-making.
Carvings outside Te Rau Aroha Museum at the Treaty grounds in Waitangi. Photo / supplied.
“There are many aspects to it. It’s not just one and the great issue at the end of the day is that people right throughout the country have to think through and talk through and be comfortable with the changes.
“That is just going to take time.”
Orange’s first book on the Treaty, The Treaty of Waitangi, was published in 1987 and was updated in 2011 and 2015.
She did her PhD at Auckland University on the Treaty and her affidavit in the famous 1987 Lands case was cited by Lord Cooke in the judgment, which described the Treaty to be a partnership.
The Treaty of Waitangi, An Illustrated History was published by BWB in 2020 and now there is a new one.
It covers not just the signing of the Treaty in 1840 but significant developments affecting Maori up to July last year when the Maori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, was established alongside the Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora.
The book is designed to be an accessible and more compact story for senior school students, public servants or anyone wanting to know more about the Treaty of Waitangi.
At the age of 84, Orange said she had told her husband it would be her last book but she had also taken some inspiration from role model Whina Cooper who was aged 79 when she led the land march to Parliament in 1975.
She is still a research fellow at Te Papa.
Orange is a member of the Waitangi National Trust which runs the Waitangi Treaty Grounds given to the country by Lord Bledisloe in 1932, and oversees the official Waitangi Day celebrations each year.
She believed that very few New Zealanders, and that included Governments, had a vision of where they wanted the country to go.
“There are areas that are going to be tricky and worrisome but I would encourage people to think that we have a remarkable country, we have a most amazing opportunity to create something that is quite different from other countries.”
And her own visions for 2040? “I would like to be wheeled in a wheelchair if I have to be in 2040 and feel that we have shared authority in so many areas that we realise we are going to go on doing this and it is inevitable that we are going to have some disagreements.
“But that everybody is more aware, both Maori and the rest of New Zealand that conversation and sharing discussions are absolutely paramount to good relationships.”
She also thought it could also be a good time for a more general apology, not an iwi-specific one, from the Government of the day for the past “that we can’t change but that we are gradually doing something about”.
The cover of Claudia Orange's new book, published by BWB.
