Maori Sovreignty

Frightening the Horses

At our local Labour Party meeting on Monday evening, we had a discussion session on five topics raised by members. I presented my summary of Bryan Gould's articles, recently posted for you; there wasn't time for discussion, but the ideas were well received.

One of the other topics was Maori Sovereignty; the issue seemed to be that people felt that any mention of this topic would scare hesitant voters away from the party. One of our members explained that "sovereignty" raised issues like "independence", "separation", even withdrawal from the New Zealand nation.

A Maori member of our meeting said that he thought Maori should discuss this issue among themselves: what did they really mean by the word? what did they really want? And that likewise the non-Maori communities should also have the same discussion, and then both sides should come together and negotiate a new understanding of the Treaty relationship for the future.

My own idea is similar to that. I think it might take up to 25 years to complete a discussion so that all sides can agree on a new constitution, and that beyond that it may take another generation to change over to a new system piece by piece.

By 2065 what would our New Zealand government system look like?

I believe it will eventually reflect the actual words of the Treaty in this way:

We will have a President, rather than a monarchy, elected by an Electoral College (MPs, representatives of Local and Regional Authorities, senior leaders from iwi and sectors). Included in the president's responsibilities will be the duty of acting as "heir and successor" to Queen Victoria according to the Treaty of 1840.

I would like to see a State Council, six Maori and six others, presided over by the Vice-President, to do two constitutional tasks:

1. Check all legislation against the Treaty, and recommend appropriate changes to the House of Representatives.

2. Set up all ceremonial protocols: honours, orders of precedence, flags, holidays, welcomes to foreign dignitaries, and so on.

The Government of the day would be appointed as now by the President, to be led by the leader commanding the majority of the House of Representatives, with Ministers selected by the PM.

The administration would fall into three parts according to the articles of the Treaty.

So first we would have the "Crown Entity", or "Kawanatanga" (Treaty Article 1): Ministries of Justice, Police, Courts, Finance, Inland Revenue, Customs, Foreign Affairs, Defence, directly responsible, as now, to Ministers.

Secondly (Treaty Article 2): "Tino Rangatiratanga": Departments of Arts and Culture, Resource Management, Lands, Conservation, Primary Industries, Education. Each of these would be managed by a Maori Board of Control, appointed by iwi, and year-by-year work would be carried on with negotiation between the Board Chairmen and their respective Ministers, who would largely be deputies to the Minister of Finance for budget purposes. But all would have other sources of revenue as well as the budget allocation from the "kawanatanga".

Thirdly (Treaty Article 3): "Rights and Privileges": Departments of Health, Welfare, Labour, Business, Women's Affairs, Pacific Island Affairs, Te Puni Kokiri, Consumer Affairs, Corrections, Internal Affairs and everything else. Each Department would be administered much as now, but with a Board of Reference (equal Maori v non-Maori membership) to act as watch-dog on rights and fairness, similar to the Ombudsman.

What is your vision for our future shape as a nation?