Your search

"Negotiating a claim before the Waitangi Tribunal can involve troubling challenges to an iwi's legitimacy, sometimes from unexpected places. In this unique behind-the-scenes account of the negotiation of Ngāi Tahu's Waitangi Tribunal claim, Sir Tipene O'Regan describes what happened when claims of New Age mysticism attempted to undermine traditional whakapapa and academic scholarship"--Publisher information.

"There is perhaps no issue in New Zealand today more contentious than water rights. The Crown claims that no one owns water, but its use, irrigation and treatment are controlled by local governments empowered by the Crown. Since the 1990s resource consents for the taking of water, in Canterbury and Southland especially, have increased dramatically and the environmental situation is reaching a breaking point. After years of discussion some kind of system regarding the ownership of water is inevitable. In Water Rights for Ngāi Tahu, Te Maire Tau considers the historical and political framework that has contributed to the current state of water rights in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā. He explores the customary, legal and Treaty frameworks that feed into the debate regarding the ownership of water. From 1844 to 1864 the Crown purchased more than 34.5 million acres of land from Ngāi Tahu, but in most purchase deeds water is not mentioned. How does this play into claims to water? Should the Treaty be relied upon? How far can kaitiakitanga take us if the goal is mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga? In this short book Te Maire Tau lays out the historical background and context to water rights, and opens a discussion about where to proceed next in determining a Ngāi Tahu position on water."--Back cover.

The New Zealand government has introduced a COVID-19 domestic vaccine pass to be used in conjunction with the COVID-19 Protection Framework. The Framework is likely to be activated soon after Cabinet meets on 29 November 2021. The pass will be necessary to access places and events that require proof of vaccination under the Framework. This brief does not argue for or against the introduction of a domestic vaccine pass, but rather discusses key issues that it raises for Māori, and suggests actions to address them. We see four key issues: • the lack of Māori involvement, as a Tiriti partner, on either the design or implementation of the COVID-19 domestic vaccine pass; • disproportionate restriction on Māori mobility due to lower Māori vaccination rates; • privacy and data security concerns; • uneven implementation that could increase discrimination against Māori and other groups considered to pose a risk to others’ safety. To respond to these issues we recommend that the implementation of the pass be designed in partnership with Māori and comply with Māori data sovereignty requirements. As Tiriti partners, Māori should expect that the pass will keep their communities safe, while providing opportunities to enact manaakitanga in the matrix of care, and the mana to manage their own affairs.

This thesis investigates the evolving natural resource management and governance (NRMG) for the Kaipara Moana, in northern Aotearoa. I employ postcolonial theory (PCT) to consider Indigenous peoples’ acts of colonial resistance and tribal resurgence within this specific place and time. I utilise a postcolonial framework comprised of Bhabha’s concepts of ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity and third space as well as Spivak’s concept of strategic essentialism to explore the agency of two Ngāti whātua hapū – Te Uri o Hau and Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara – in initiating and participating in NRMG. These concepts enable the research to explore beyond the binary Indigenous versus non-Indigenous thinking to consider the nuances that occur within hybrid realities. I deconstruct colonial discourse, examining the relations between power, knowledge and agency, to resist and challenge imperialism. By utilising PCT and taking a ‘catchment’ scale approach this research characterises the various discourses at play as a legacy of colonialism and the postcolonial complexities associated with NRMG within, and associated with, this locale. My key research question asks: To what extent does Integrated Catchment Management address mana whenua rights to assert rangatiratanga over their environmental resources and taonga? The research finds that integrated catchment management (ICM) offers potential opportunities for Māori to re-negotiate their role in NRMG, and that iwi-led ICM offers potential for cultural revitalisation and empowerment. However in the case of Kaipara Moana this potential is undermined by a lack of appropriate overarching bicultural governance. The research reveals the ambivalence of the colonial state in the Kaipara and the fragility of its assumed positional superiority within NRM. It is suggested that non-statutory arrangements fail to ensure the commitment necessary for successful outcomes, instead providing a façade for colonial governments to merely appear responsive. New Zealand’s Resource Management Act (1991) is shown to be ineffective in supporting ICM, because cultural imperatives are given less weight than economic imperatives. Small triumphs in Indigenous attempts to reconcile themselves with other local actors in multicultural realities, against a backdrop of ongoing Treaty settlements, and to provide for their own social wellbeing and empowerment, are proven to be real and significant. However, ICM, in and of itself, is unlikely to provide for self-determination to the fullest extent. This research is timely, as current policy reforms such as the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM) (2014) and Treaty of Waitangi settlements are placing greater emphasis on Māori rights and interests in NRMG. The NPSFM also recommends collaborative ICM-based implementation of fresh water management to meet the national level requirements. It is concerning though, that the NPSFM lacks any explicit implementation mechanism to ensure Māori rights and interests are met, meaning there is a similar risk that the NPSFM could also be ineffective. In this context it is highly relevant to be gauging a reallife ICM case and even more so, one that is iwi-led and to which the Treaty partnership is a fundamental principle. Key words: Indigenous rights and interests; Rangatiratanga; Natural resource management; Governance; Integrated catchment management; Ngāti Whātua, Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti; Treaty partnership; Multiple stakeholder platforms; bicultural kaupapa; mātauranga Māori Title: For the purposes of this research the Māori title “He waka hourua, he waka eke noa” is interpreted as ‘a waka with two hulls bound by a common kaupapa’. The notion being that while Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples may be willing to get into the same waka and integrate where necessary, for example sharing a vision, objectives and desired outcomes, they also maintain separate hulls to preserve and advance the knowledges, institutions and practices of each culture.

“The need for constitutional transformation has become quite clear in the Māori world over the last 12 or 13 years.” — Professor Margaret Mutu.

The State of Maori Rights brings together a set of articles written between 1994 and 2009. It places on record the Maori view of events and issues that took place over these years, issues that have been more typically reported to the general public from a 'mainstream' media perspective. It is an important documentation of these fifteen years of New Zealand history, recording the assertion of Maori rights as the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on Maori issues and experiences and written from a Maori perspective.

"This book describes the iwi of Ngāti Kahu through the traditions and histories of each of the sixteen hapū, told by kuia and kaumātua and kept alive for future generations. These include histories of poverty, deprivation and marginalisation at the hands of the Crown, and loss of lands of the iwi. The book examines the range of techniques used by the Crown to justify its actions and the way these laid the groundwork for continuing injustices. The remedies needed to redress these injustices and achieve reconciliation of Ngāti Kahu and the Crown are set out. These include constitutional change to achieve the restoration of political, social and economic well-being to Ngāti Kahu, Crown relinquishment of all Ngāti Kahu lands to their rightful owners and payment of sufficient compensation to ensure no further Treaty of Waitangi claims. This history of Ngāti Kahu details the range of Crown actions against Ngāti Kahu to the current day, the effects of these actions on the people of Ngāti Kahu and the concerted and continuing efforts by Ngāti Kahu for remedies and reconciliation with the Crown"--Publisher information.

Governments in New Zealand have legislated a large number of settlements extinguishing many hundreds of claims taken by Māori against the Crown for breaches of the country’s founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They portray settlements as a great success for Māori and the Crown. Māori disagree. Settlements are government-determined and imposed on Māori using a smoke and mirrors approach that masks successive governments’ true intentions: to claw back Māori legal rights; to extinguish all claims; and to maintain White control over Māori. In short, to uphold the Doctrine of Discovery in further breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Māori claimants and negotiators report being enticed into the process by false promises only to become traumatised and disenchanted. Yet many take a pragmatic stance and sign settlements, making the best they can out of a bad deal that goes nowhere near compensating for their actual loss. They know that despite what legislation may say, the settlements are not full, not fair and not final and that, like all previous settlements, they will be revisited. They also know that unless fundamental changes are made to the constitutional makeup of the country, there is no prospect of justice and reconciliation for Māori.

This article considers research conducted on the impact of the Crown’s treaty claims settlement policy on Māori in New Zealand. It provides a brief background to the Treaty of Waitangi and the subsequent British colonisation process that relied on the Doctrine of Discovery in breach of the treaty. It outlines how colonisation dispossessed Māori of 95 percent of their lands and resources, usurped Māori power and authority and left them in a state of poverty, deprivation and marginalisation while procuring considerable wealth, prosperity and privilege for British settlers. The work of the Waitangi Tribunal, the commission of inquiry set up to investigate those breaches, is considered, as is the Crown’s reaction to the 1987 Lands case in developing its treaty claims settlement policy. The Crown unilaterally imposed the policy despite vehement opposition from Māori. Since 1992, it has legislated more than seventy ‘settlements’. The research shows that overall, the process has traumatised claimants, divided their communities, and returned on average less than one percent of their stolen lands. Proposals for constitutional transformation have drawn widespread support from Māori as a solution to British colonisation. United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies have recommended that the government discuss this with Māori

Māori leaders in New Zealand continue the battle to end British colonisation. The aim is to restore the balance between Māori and the Crown guaranteed in the treaty that Māori and the British Crown agreed to in 1840 so that we can live in peace and harmony. Early European visitors subjected our ancestors to numerous atrocities. Relying on the Doctrine of Discovery, they illegitimately usurped our power and dispossessed us, leaving us in a state of poverty, deprivation and marginalisation. They fabricated myths to justify their criminal activities, set up an illegitimate parliament with unfettered powers, passed laws legalising their crimes and then covered it up with amnesia. They established the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 to inquire into breaches of the treaty, not realising that it would dismantle the myths and look beneath the amnesia. Governments then instigated the ‘treaty claims settlement’ process to extinguish all Māori claims, remove Māori rights and entrench colonisation. Research undertaken has shown that Māori loathe this process and do not accept that settlements are full and final. Research on constitutional transformation has identified a possible solution. The first step towards that goal involves implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Over the past four decades, international indigenous rights have become a prominent aspect of international law and are now enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet, while endorsed by Aotearoa New Zealand in 2010, little remains known about how these standards came about, how the international movement that created them was established, and the implications of these standards on national reforms already protecting Māori rights. International Indigenous Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand seeks to answer these questions. This collection of essays places the Declaration in the context of New Zealand rights around such issues as Treaty settlements, mining policy and the status of Māori children. Crucially, it also asks how Māori can hold New Zealand to account against international indigenous rights.

In Aotearoa New Zealand the ways in which indigenous claims to lands and waters are addressed are often looked to as good, or even best, practice by indigenous peoples around the world. While things are far from perfect, in recent decades Maori have succeeded in changing perceptions about the Treaty of Waitangi as the foundation of the nation, and work steadily continues on settling outstanding Treaty claims. The resulting Treaty of Waitangi settlements are negotiated arrangements which aim to remove a sense of historical grievance and achieve significant rebuilding of the Maori economy. They are seen by some as dynamic and powerful steps towards economic independence, as a means of recognising special relationships to lands and waters, and a necessary prerequisite to improved relationships between the state and the indigenous Maori in the future. ¹ Critics see the settlements and the processes followed to reach them as too heavily weighted in the government's favour. ² They argue that the settlements do not sufficiently compensate for actual losses. They are said to pit Maori against Maori. Diverse claimant groups are effectively forced to negotiate within standardised and fixed parameters. For these and other reasons, the settlement agreements, policies and processes have been labelled as divisive and compromising self-determination. ³

Between 1991 and 1994, Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Douglas Graham and the recently established Treaty of Waitangi Policy Unit developed a series of policy proposals that outlined an ambitious plan to settle Māori historical treaty claims. These papers were refined via extensive consultation and discussion with Cabinet Ministers and government officials: Māori as treaty partner were not consulted. In late 1994 the proposed policy was approved by Cabinet and published as Crown Proposals for the Settlement of Treaty of Waitangi Claims. Why did the Crown decide to settle Māori historical treaty claims in the early 1990s? What did it expect to gain from settling treaty claims? Why, after nearly a century and a half of relative complacency, and nearly two decades after the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal to hear and make recommendations on Māori grievances, was the Crown suddenly prompted into action? And why would a right wing National government with little support from Māori voters and few current or previous Māori MPs launch a treaty claims settlement policy that would greatly antagonize its traditional voting base? These questions will be addressed via an examination of Cabinet papers, policy documents, legislation, deeds of settlement, published accounts and interviews with some of the key players. It will be argued that the treaty claims settlement policy was initiated as a consequence of New Zealand Māori Council v Attorney-General 1987, popularly known as the Lands case, and developed to achieve three specific outcomes: diversion of claimants away from the Waitangi Tribunal, containment of the financial risks posed by the Tribunal’s newly found binding and resumptive powers, and a progressive ‘winding back’ of Māori rights and Crown obligations embedded in legislation.

For more than half a century, Keith Sorrenson - one of New Zealand's leading historians and himself of mixed Maori and Pakeha descent - has dived deeper than anyone into the story of two peoples in New Zealand. In this new book, Sorrenson brings together his major writing from the last 56 years into a powerful whole, covering topics from the origins of Maori (and Pakeha ideas about those origins), through land purchases and the King Movement of the nineteenth century, and on to twentieth-century politics and the new history of the Waitangi Tribunal.

This study discusses the origins, development and outcomes of the first wave of radical Māori activism between 1968 and 1978. It charts the events of the period and the body of politics, philosophies and strategies employed by Māori activists. It contends that the discipline of history as currently practised becomes problematic when it is applied to the study of non-western cultures, and that scholars undertaking research into Māori histories and communities need to develop a model or metaphor for writing history which is sympathetic to Māori epistemologies and priorities. To this end the text focuses primarily on the words and actions of the activists themselves in order to better understand the way activists conceptualized their world. Activists’ ideas and politics should not just be studied in a ‘race relations model’, that is, in terms of their impact on society and the Pākehā public, and the reaction of the government. Taking activism out of the race relations model and examining it on its own terms throws the movement’s concerns, subtleties and contradictions into sharper relief and provides a deeper understanding of its significance. The thesis is centrally concerned with how activists defined themselves, their actions and their politics, and will argue that Māori activism was implicated in the era’s emerging politics of identity. Māori activism was as much about reforming Māori and Pākehā attitudes towards Māori culture, society and identity as it was about policy and legislative reform. Furthermore, the thesis attempts to explain the influence on, and contribution to, the activist movement of three interrelated contexts: te Ao Māori, the Māori world, Aotearoa, national events, and te Ao Hurihuri, the international setting. It also pays special attention to the gender politics of the era. The work is divided into four chapters. The first covers the Māori world and the ‘big three’ issues of Māori activism: the Treaty of Waitangi, land loss and cultural alienation. The second chapter discusses the national context and the ‘big three’ issues of national politics during the era: apartheid sport, the Vietnam War and class politics. The third chapter deals with the international framework and the influence of global trends on local events, while the fourth chapter details the emergence of the Black women’s movement.