This year I’m not going to rage against injustice. I’m not going to be defensive and argumentative. Nor am I going to unthinkingly celebrate or indifferently just have a day off work. And I’m not going to be a preachy know-it-all—I promise. Not this year.
This is a year of significant anniversaries for the Treaty of Waitangi; 175 years since the Treaty was signed, 40 years since the passing of the Treaty of Waitangi Act and the Waitangi Tribunal was set up, and 20 years since the Office of Treaty Settlements was formally established. It’s probably not surprising then that in recent decades a lot of discussion about the Treaty has revolved around claims and settlement—that work is vitally important. And there is still much to be said and done there.
But in this year of landmark anniversaries, I think we should do something special: Let’s liberate the Treaty of Waitangi.
Because the Treaty isn’t simply about fixing up historical wrongs. So, let’s not limit its application to looking back at the past. Let’s free it from that context. Don’t get me wrong—confronting the past, acknowledging the damage the governments have done to Māori communities over the last 175 years and committing to do something about it is absolutely essential. But to confine the Treaty to acting as a benchmark against which to measure past action deprives us of the full potential that the Treaty offers.
The claims and settlement process is important for re-setting those relationships between Māori and government and providing a platform for healthier, more mature relationships based on mutual respect and recognition of each other’s traditions, institutions, and ways of doing things. But the claims and settlement process by itself cannot fulfill the Treaty partnership. Redressing past wrongs is a necessary step, but not by itself sufficient. If no other action is taken, completing the settlement of historical claims would be about as productive as mopping up a puddle caused by a leaking tap but not doing anything to fix the leak.
Ultimately, the Treaty is important because of the relationship it creates. Many people will be familiar with the debates about the interpretation of the Treaty, complicated by the existence of an English version and a Māori version, but the essential agreement meant that the Crown was empowered to exercise some form of governmental authority, while the authority of the Māori who signed was confirmed through the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga. So, the Treaty envisions a relationship whereby public power is to be shared. That, in a nutshell, is the concept of the Treaty partnership.
Part of the difficulty in freeing the Treaty from the claims process is that successive governments keep breaching Treaty principles. To place the Treaty in a more positive and less reactive environment—to fix that leaking tap—we need to give serious consideration to constitutional change that puts the Treaty partnership at the heart of our system of government. This does not mean giving Māori a veto over government decisions, or creating special political rights or separate institutions. In fact, the essence of partnership is about finding ways of working together for mutual benefit, not just agreeing to keep out of each other’s way. But what it does require is a recognition that our institutions of government, those bodies that make and apply the law, ought to reflect Māori values alongside the values, largely from the British constitutional tradition, to which they currently give effect. Now constitutional change of that nature is not easy, which is why we should count our blessings that we have the Treaty of Waitangi. We don’t need to start from scratch. We already have a document that sets out the basic structure of the partnership.
So, this year, let’s think about how the Treaty can be a positive force in New Zealand public life in the future. Let’s not consign it to a past of historical injustice but instead free the Treaty to create the space for mutual respect and recognition in all that we do as a nation and make sure we have a future founded on partnership and justice.