Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and coalition partner David Seymour have been talking up a “post-Treaty” world which might raise concerns for tāngata whenua, particularly after Seymour’s comment that perhaps the Waitangi Tribunal should be wound up for its own good.
The coalition government agreement includes a review of the Waitangi Tribunal but there isn’t an explanation of what that might mean.
Luxon had said Shane Jones’ and Seymour’s comments on the tribunal last week were ill-considered but assured this didn’t mean there were cracks in the coalition, that he was proud of their contributions and that, “there is no doubt about it, we are making sure that going forward in a post-Treaty settlements world, what is the future role and scope, and purpose of that Waitangi Tribunal - that needs some thinking.”
On Tuesday Te Ao Māori News’ Tini Molyneux interviewed Seymour about the Waitangi Tribunal.
Seymour acknowledged “the Waitangi Tribunal has been essential and has played a very important role in settling past grievances… However, with that process nearly complete, I think it raises a question of what does it do next… What is its future in a post-settlement environment?”
To break down what the the Waitangi Tribunal does and to demystify it, Te Ao Māori News talked to Dr Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa) the kaihautū of Te Whare Whakatupu Mātauranga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa.
What is the Waitangi Tribunal?
The Waitangi Tribunal hears claims brought by Māori against the Crown alleging there’s been a breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
“It’s not just about what’s gone wrong in the relationship, it’s about the relationship between kāwangatanga and tino rangatiratanga.”
“The tribunal inquires into claims, reports and makes findings and recommendations but the government doesn’t need to accept what the tribunal says,” Jones said.
The Waitangi Tribunal deals with both historical and contemporary claims.
Seymour mentioned the past grievances but there have been both historical and contemporary breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“The Treaty settlements that people hear about, Ngāi Tahu and Tainui being the two big early ones, those are settlements of historical claims only.”
“We can see the Crown is still breaching the principles of the treaty of Waitangi. We still need a body, some kind of mechanism to monitor the Crown’s actions in that respect and to provide some opportunity for accountability and to address those matters.”
The summonsing of Minister Karen Chhour last week was an example of a contemporary claim, as was the potential removal of section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act, which was alleged by claimants to be a breach of te Tiriti.
Should we be worried about the Treaty Principles Bill?
Act leader David Seymour and NZ First want to review Treaty principles. Jones said given the fact all existing settlements were based on Treaty claims, “there’s the potential existing and future claims could be unsettled by those changes, on the basis that what was agreed to no longer exists. We would be back to the position before the tribunal was established, no constitutional mechanism for addressing Māori claims.”
Should people feel threated by the Waitangi Tribunal?
“People certainly shouldn’t feel threatened by the tribunal. It provides advice to government, so if people are concerned about the democratic process being undermined, the tribunal certainly isn’t doing that because it’s really just providing more information and guidance for government to make, we hope, better decisions.”
In the past the tribunal addressed environmental issues that were supported by non-Māori in the areas and the WAI262 Claim related to intellectual property and traditional knowledge was supported by a lot of Pākehā.
Real needs
Seymour said, “I suspect that what we really need to do now to really honour the Treaty is to get these issues around housing, around welfare, around education, corrections, you know, jobs. Those are the things that modern Māori in 2024 will be saying, ‘this is what we need’ and I’m not clear on how the Waitangi Tribunal is contributing to that right now.”
But Carwyn Jones asserted the tribunal was in fact contributing, “I think you just need to look at what the tribunal has said already in a number of those areas. The tribunal has held inquiries in relation to a number of issues relating to Corrections, it’s got an ongoing inquiry in relation to hauora. Part of what came out from the first of that hauora inquiry was the discussion around the establishment of the Māori Health Authority, which is now being disestablished.
“The tribunal has already made significant contributions to providing guidance for the government, in terms of how it can address some of the needs that Māori have in those areas that David Seymour talked about. In one sense I entirely agree with him, that those are areas that we ought to focus on but te Tiriti o Waitangi provides a really important framework for thinking about how we can address Māori need in those areas and the tribunal has demonstrated that it can provide that kind of guidance.
“While the claims are all about Crown action, and sometimes the Crown is quite defensive about what it’s done, there other times too where the Crown is genuinely seeking some guidance and a way of fulfilling its Tiriti obligations and trying to do the right thing, and the tribunal can be a really constructive way of engaging with Crown agencies and providing that guidance.”
“Yes, we are perhaps shifting out of a phase on the historical breaches and historical redress but, as we can see, the Crown is still breaching the principles of te Tiriti. it’s actually an opportunity for us to think about the relationship between tino rangatiratanga and kāwangatanga set out in te Tiriti across a whole range of more forward looking and future focused areas,” Jones said.