Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon takes complaint against Government to United Nations

One of the country’s most prominent Māori health advocates Lady Tureiti Moxon is travelling to Switzerland to ask the United Nations to intervene in what she calls the “political discrimination” of Māori by the Government.

Moxon is set to meet in Geneva with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to present her complaint against the coalition.

“This Government has created a situation whereby Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been basically dismissed completely.”

Moxon is referring to a series of Government policies that have affected Māori and have led many to believe the coalition is anti-Māori. This is a charge the Government rejects.

Specifically, some of the policies Moxon’s complaint singles out include:

• The disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority)
• The just-passed Regulatory Standards Act and the now-defeated Treaty Principles Bill. She said both undermined the application of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in law. In June, Albert K. Barume, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples (a sort of watchdog for indigenous rights) wrote to the New Zealand Government to say he was “particularly concerned” with the Regulatory Standards Bill, which, he said, “excludes Māori traditions [tikanga] and fails to uphold the principles of partnership, active protection, and self-protection guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi”.
• The review of references to Treaty of Waitangi principles in legislation. This is part of NZ First’s coalition agreement with National.
• The review of the Waitangi Tribunal.
• The Government’s stance on Undrip – the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People – including the NZ First and National coalition agreement commitment to confirm the Government does not recognise Undrip “as having any binding legal effect on New Zealand”. This was another issue that rankled Barume.
• Bootcamps for youth offenders.
• Removing section 7AA, which in short required Oranga Tamariki to consider a child’s whakapapa when considering foster homes.
• The gang patch ban.
• Defunding section 27 cultural reports, which judges considered during sentencing.
• Changes to foreshore and seabed legislation (the Marine and Coastal Areas Act). This is a contentious topic and the Government will also be aware of the hīkoi of 2004, which led to the birth of Te Pāti Māori and debate over whether anyone should have special rights over the foreshore and seabed.
• The fast-track legislation, which Moxon said allows ministers to override other laws and ignore local Māori.
• Changes to freshwater protections, known as Te Mana o te Wai, under the Resource Management Act.
• NZ First’s intention to force Ngāpuhi into a single settlement (as opposed to separate hapū-based settlements). Moxon said this has prevented Ngāpuhi from asserting their mana.
• Introduction of Māori ward referendums.
• Suspending three Te Pāti Māori MPs for an unprecedented three weeks for breaching House protocol and performing a haka in the House during a reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
• The removal of the Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Education Act requiring school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Moxon said with regard to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Government had “been pushing very hard to get rid of it from absolutely everything”.

“All of these things actually compile to create a situation which is untenable for us. Even taking Māori words out of 5-year-olds’ schoolbooks, taking Māori words away from Government departments and saying ‘English first’.

“Our people are standing up to say, ‘enough – enough of this badgering, enough of this hostility, enough of this racial discrimination’.”

Moxon is set to fly to Geneva this evening. The United Nations has accepted hearing her urgent complaint, which means it is willing to hear it on short notice.

“I’ll tell you why we are going to Geneva – because there is nothing here that actually stops this Government from [not] doing what is right in terms of the indigenous rights of the people of New Zealand.”

The Herald asked two ministers who cover Māori relations and affairs for their response to the complaint. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said it was Moxon’s “democratic right” to protest the issues in front of the United Nations.

“I don’t agree to that and I don’t subscribe to that, but people are entitled to strong opinions and strong views.”

Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith said he disagreed with Moxon.

“We are certainly not getting rid of the Treaty and anybody who says that is completely wrong. We’re a Government that is focused on improving outcomes for Māori.

“In my justice space [Goldsmith is also Justice Minister], we’re reducing the number of victims of crime and too many of them are Māori victims.

“As a country, New Zealand continues to invest enormously in both investigating our past and our history and seeking to reach settlement, but also in investing in the rich culture in te reo.”

He said the biggest new area of spending in the arts in the past two years was Te Matatini kapa haka.

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.