Critics warn it
could strain Māori-Crown relationships even further, and could trigger legal challenges.
The NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, Jamie Ensor, told The Front Page that the Government’s aim is to make Treaty references more specific so they are less open to broad interpretation and less likely to create legal disputes.
“The concern from New Zealand First was that these references had become a bit too open-ended, a bit too generic, and that was leading to a wide interpretation of when was meant by the legislation.
“It was going to the courts, it was leading to a long litigation in some cases. Shane Jones has highlighted this in the context of resource management within the context of the environment.
“They want a more productive economy. They want things to happen more quickly. But instead, a lot of the discussion and debate at the court is around those very specific mentions of the Treaty principles and how to interpret that,” he said.
Ensor learned of Cabinet’s decisions after discovering a memorandum filed by the Crown at the Waitangi Tribunal on March 12.
He said it has been quite “a quiet process” that we haven’t heard much about.
“They may be concerned about the perception of this, even if it doesn’t actually turn out to be all that big a deal. Even if it’s just editing some lesser-known pieces of legislation, they may be concerned about what the perception may be.
“It may also just be the case that they haven’t made a big flashy announcement because they’re waiting to get all their ducks in a row. They’re waiting to know exactly how they’re going to amend everything,” he said.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has denied it’s all been done on the down low.
“It’s part of the coalition agreement. It’s been well known and flagged for a long period of time that we’re going to look at the variety of treaty references that we’ve inherited over the last 30 years,” he told Newstalk ZB.
“There are about 28 pieces of legislation that refer to the principles of the Treaty. About 10 of them are going to be dealt with through separate arrangements, like the Resource Management Act, which is going through separately ...
“We’re focused on 18 of them. We’ll remove the reference entirely for five or six of them because it just makes no sense, has no relevance.
“The others we’re going to be clearer about. Now, this is a process; it’ll take a little bit of time. We’re going to introduce legislation in a couple of months. We’re consulting with iwi leaders at the moment, and then it will go through a select committee process,” he said.
Read Jamie Ensor’s full story on the Treaty of Waitangi clause review.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Treaty principles review vs the Treaty Principles Bill
- Why it matters
- What happens next.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
