Obligations under Te Tiriti vs the Coalition Government

Source: Openclipart 

Opinion Piece 

Before I start this article, I am going to outline a simplified version of the Crown’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As we all know in 1840, a treaty known as Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed by representatives of the Crown and between 43 and 46 Māori Rangatira. This was an agreement that had three articles and although the agreement is not legal, it still stands as agreement.  

According to the New Zealand Human Rights commission “The Treaty is also important as a ‘living document,’ central to New Zealand’s present and future as well as its past.” This is because Te Tiriti “establishes a relationship “akin to partnership” between the Crown and rangatira and confers a set of rights and obligations on each Treaty partner.” Therefore, the Crown and Māori have obligations under that agreement that they must uphold. 

As a Māori during the 2023 election, one could say I was not impressed with some of the election rhetoric around Māori culture, communities and peoples. Between Acts slogan of ‘end division by race’ and Christpher Luxon’s constant referral to ideas around co-governance and how it is a bureaucracy, the future for Māori growth under their Government looked grim. I could also foresee that the obligations the Government have to uphold in the agreement of Te Tiriti would probably be ignored under this coalition Government.  

Which isn’t to say that historically the obligations of the Crown haven’t been ignored, they definitely have, but with the establishment of the Māori Health Authority under the Labour Government and co-governance initiatives, there were finally substantial partnerships between the Crown and Māori.  

In not even a year of governance, the coalition Government headed by Prime Minister Chrispher Luxon have, in my opinion, destroyed needed partnerships between Māori and the Crown, and shown that the Government do not respect Te Tiriti and what the agreement stands for.  

Yes, this is a bold statement, but I am going to outline why.  

One of the first things the Government did was make all Government departments revert to English names. For example, instead of the New Zealand Transport Agency being Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, they are now NZ transport Agency Waka Kotahi.  

The reasoning behind this was that it is confusing, with Winston Peter telling new media “all communications are about comprehension and understanding.”  

Personally, I can read a Māori name then read the English next to it, and then understand - but maybe I am built different or something.  

Another big move from the Coalition was to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora for reasons involving bureaucracy. 

Furthermore, the Government’s budget featured only one Māori related initiative, entity or policy which was given increase in funding, with Te Matatini, a nationwide kapa haka competition getting a boost in funding from 2025, receiving $48.7m over the next three years, with the funding meaning it can continue.  

Tama Potaka, the Minister for Māori development said the move would “help us celebrate the ongoing revitalisation of our language and tikanga.”  

While this is positive, the rest of the budget is not so much.  

It has essentially cut funding to a range of initiatives which are extremely important for Māori growth.  

• The funding for historical Treaty of Waitangi Settlement claims has been cut, with the $9.5 million to be returned to the Crown.  

• $20m worth of funding for Rangatahi transitional housing has been returned to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.  

• Funding for Te Kawa Matakura, a qualification for people who wish to develop knowledge of māauranga-ā-iwi has been cut. 

• Funding for Mātauranga Māori based approaches to reducing agricultural emissions has been scrapped.  

• Grant funding for the Aotearoa Reorua programme has been reduced by half.  

These are only a few of the initiatives that have lost funding.  

I do understand that some funded needed to be cut if the Government is to meet its’ plan of getting our economy back on track, but it seems they have decided to cut a lot of Māori based funding, and chosen to not boost any funding for Māori based initiatives.  

This also begs the question of what the future of Te Tiriti will look like under this Government, especially if the Treaty Principals Bill proposed by Act is successful.  

But I would rather not go into that - unless it happens.  

I want to finish by saying that honouring Te Tiriti should not be that hard, yet for some reason government after government are unable to meet these obligations, which were agreed upon and written by European ancestors. 

And although the Government’s decisions around Māori are not ideal, these decisions do not take away our rights to protest, or the fact we are the tangata whenua of this country.