[1]When the Waitangi Tribunal
released the First Part of its Paparahi
o Te Raki Report, it reaffirmed the long-held general Māori understanding
that He Whakaputanga was
“a declaration that Māori
authority would endure … When rangatira
asserted their mana
i te whenua there can be no doubt that they intended this as an expression
of the highest authority within their territories. They furthermore asserted their rangatiratanga
– their rights as leaders subordinate to noone else within their
territories. And they asserted their Kingitanga
… that there could be no leaders above them.
Taken together these assertions of mana, Kingitanga and rangatiratanga
undoubtedly amounted to an assertion of their authority to make and enforce law
and therefore their sovereignty.”
The Tribunal further stated
”Its principal
significance was as a written assertion of the mana rangatiratanga and
independence of those who signed … and to ensure that no foreign law or
government could be imposed on them … It was also important as a renewed
declaration of friendship with Britain and
its King
based on mutual benefit through trade, mutual commitments of protection, and British
recognition of rangatiratanga and mana i te whenua.”
The Tribunal
conclusions underscore why He Whakaputanga is an important part of the
constitutional transformation we are exploring.
Like tikanga
it is regarded as a necessary and appropriate starting point for considering
different constitutional systems.
In some Iwi there was concern about
preserving the particular structures that they had developed, while others were
keen to explore ways that could properly involve groups such as Urban Māori Authorities that do not function and
are not constituted as the Hapū
envisaged in He Whakaputanga.
However in
all of the discussions, He Whakaputanga was seen as a precedent for how
relationships among ourselves might be better organised.
It cannot be
stressed enough that there is a quite considerable degree of frustration and in
some cases, anger, with the dominance the Crown has accorded Iwi in
recent years. Many people feel that
policy has disadvantaged Hapū in ways that are contrary to tikanga, He
Whakaputanga and Te
Tiriti.
But again
most people also feel that He Whakaputanga provided a precedent about how the
relationships between different Iwi and Hapū might be improved and given constitutional
form. The genuineness of those
particular discussions and the continuing desire for unity which they
encapsulated may be the greatest legacy that He Whakaputanga has left for our
people.
Additionally
it was felt that He Whakaputanga also provides a precedent for
institutionalising our relationship with the Crown in the relational
sphere.
As He Whakaputanga
suggests, the relational sphere could in fact be understood as a new site
of power where Māori and the Crown make joint decisions while respecting
the mana of each participating polity.
That seems a
worthy and practical precedent to everyone involved, whether their Iwi signed
He Whakaputanga or not.
[1] Twelfth
edited extract from pp. 48 – 49 of He Whakaaro Here
Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa – The Report of Matike Mai o Aotearoa
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