A VERSATILE VERB

Many years ago at a hui I stood to answer a nasty comment aimed at my daughter.  But I must have looked as annoyed as I felt, because when I went to stand another cousin pulled me back down, smiled at me like only cousins can, and said, “Settle petal.” 

“Settle.”  If ever there was a versatile English word, it is that one.  You can settle an argument, an account, a plan, a territory, your furniture or yourself.  Birds can settle from a flight and a person can settle from a fright.  You can settle into a job or a marriage, and a cold can settle into your head or your chest.  You can even settle for something less than satisfactory. 

For iwi, that last definition is particularly poignant because it not only describes how some of us have accepted something less to “settle” our claims, it also means we must deal with the very unsettling results. 

This is an underlying theme emerging from the research project, What Do the Claimants Say: Reconceptualising the Treaty Claims Settlement Process.

The researchers note that the government’s publicly stated purpose for its settlement process is to improve race relations, acknowledge and resolve historical injustices, restore the honour of the Crown, remove the sense of grievance felt by Māori, improve the socio-economic status of Māori, and achieve full, final and fair settlements of our claims. 

However, both the Doug Graham 1997 book, Trick or Treaty and the 1990s Cabinet minutes clearly show that government’s true underlying purpose in its settlement process is to clawback Māori legal rights to binding recommendations provided for in the State-owned Enterprises Act and the Crown Forest Assets Act.   And yet, only 1 of the 118 interviewees to date was aware of this. 

That is just one of a very large number of common themes that have emerged from the research interviews thus far, as well as from thousands of claimant submissions to the Māori Affairs Select Committee made since the very first settlement more than 30 years ago.  

Another primary theme is that, while claimants want their claims settled fully and fairly, they all reported no evidence that settlement has delivered on any of the Crown’s public assertions.  Another is that whānau and hapū are frequently marginalised under the Crown’s large natural grouping policy.  In fact, many report being bullied by the Crown and having settled under duress. 

When my cousin sat me down all those years ago, she went on to deliver a hilarious kōrero that helped settle both the petal and the matter.  She was able to do that because she knew the truth, had the facts to back it up and the skill to deliver it. 

Claimants who choose to pursue their legal rights, operate with a similar knowledge / skill set and fact pattern as my cousin.  Their aim is also to settle, but not for less. Because they know that “settle” is indeed a very versatile verb.