A BETTER WAY

^[1]

---

[1] Edited extract from He Whakaaro Here Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa – Report on Constitutional Transformation, pp. 101 – 102

 Most of the discussions at hui held by Matike Mai o Aotearoa (the independent Working Group on constitutional transformation) concentrated on the core imperatives and values of constitutionalism.

Thus, it was accepted that Te Tiriti o Waitangi provided for the continuation of the Māori constitutional order that existed before 1840.  It also created a new constitutional configuration with the grant of kāwanatanga to the Crown which enabled it to exercise authority over its people while providing for a joint site of power where it could work with Māori in a Tiriti-based relationship; a better way of governing for both parties to Te Tiriti.

Many objections and practical obstacles to constitutional transformation will be and already are present in the wider community, but they are not seen as reasons to stop –

“Getting to where we are now has been a struggle but this one is different because…it affects the power that Pākehā have and so it’ll be harder. All we can do is be firm about the relationship the treaty talked about and not get distracted into some expedient solution that will keep things the same instead of advancing the vision that the old people had (that) our jurisdiction would remain intact and we wouldn’t stop being tangata whenua just because someone else was being given permission to live here…”.

“We have just to…keep reminding ourselves and the Crown that Te Tiriti sees rangatiratanga as the same sovereign power that is in He Whakaputanga.  That means a different political relationship between us”.

“There are economic interests at stake, and constitutional change challenges the neoliberalism and globalisation [involved]…Interests like that will make the job even harder and I can just imagine people saying this won’t ever happen, the markets will collapse, it’s just Māori nationalism – whatever that is…I remember one kaumātua saying that getting the Crown to change is like running up a steep mountain. It’s hard but the summit is the treaty and our people keep on climbing”.

 

“I know that some people see threats in any change.  [My] Dad is Kahungunu and Mum is English and the whole Parliamentary thing is part of her background.  But even she knows that the treaty was really about finding a way for her background to sit alongside Dad’s and not taking Dad’s away because it belongs here”.

“We’re not so naïve to believe that this…will happen quickly. But the treaty has always been about our people coming up with new ideas to make it happen…and this is the same…it has the same importance for our mokos. I think we should just reach out to others, not the government or the politicians to begin with, but the people we know, and start talking with them, both Māori and Pākehā…our friends and neighbours, our workmates, and like me our Pākehā in-laws, and sa. ‘isn’t there a better way of seeing the treaty…can’t we just do better than this as people?’”