The Treaty of Waitangi - Essay Example

ASSIGNMENT 2 al Affiliation) Contents …………………………………………………… iii Introduction 2. Background…………………………………………….2 3. Discussion………………………………………..........6 4. Conclusions and Recommendations…………………...10 5. Student’s Declaration………………………………….11 6. References……………………………………………..12 7. Glossary………………………………………………..13 Images Image 1: The Waikato River System……………………………4 Image 2: The Waikato River passing through Hamilton City…..5 Abstract The government of New Zealand has made it known that it intends to sell Mighty River Power together with some other assets; Mighty River Power is the sole proprietor of the Waikato River Hydro scheme which makes use of waters of the Waikato river water to generate hydroelectric power. A number of Maori organizations have indicated that they are against the sale because they believe they should have a say on the usage of the waters of river Waikato, and through the sale they will not be able to put this claim to the test. This issue has resulted in a nationwide debate regarding the ownership of the river’s waters, and is therefore worth discussing and writing about. The Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement between the Maori tribes of New Zealand and the Britain’s colonial government, was signed in 1840 after much deliberation by the Queen and a growing concern for the welfare of New Zealand’s indigenous peoples (Orange 1987, pg.32). The Resource Management Act (RMA) was an act of parliament that was passed in 1991 for the primary purpose of stipulating how New Zealand’s natural resources should be managed, and the principles of the Treaty are regarded as the guiding framework of the Treaty of Waitangi. They act as moderators which can be referred to whenever there is an issue surrounding interpretation or implementation of the Treaty. The objective of this report is to answer the question “who owns the waters of river Waitangi?”, and this will be done through the examination of the Treaty of Waitangi, the RMA and the principles of the Treaty. At the end of this report, this question should be solved and more clarity should be achieved with regards to this issue. 1. Introduction The Treaty of Waitangi is often viewed as the founding document of the country that is now known as New Zealand (Calman 2003, pg.30). Since its signing in 1840, it has played a very influential role in shaping the country, how its resources are managed and its relation to its indigenous peoples (in this case the Maori). Over years, there have been disagreements between the New Zealand government over the management of resources that the Maori people consider “theirs”. Most recently, the Crown’s intention to sell Mighty River Power has drawn criticism, outrage and uproar from various groups representing the Maori people. The purpose of this report is to discuss, examine and evaluate the Treaty, the RMA and the principles and to come up with a sensible and practical conclusion on the issue at hand. These three aspects are very important to the final outcome since they explain where all this is coming from and how it can be resolved. The significance of this report is that it will finally decide how to move forward in this whole conundrum; it will look at both parties’ claims and address them in a sound manner and finally put the matter to bed. This report will cover events and aspects dating from 1840 to the current and most recent controversy pitting the government of New Zealand and the Maori people. As a result, whatever conclusion is reached will be arrived at after a lot of factors are studied and examined exhaustively. Limitations to this study might be that so many changes have occurred since 1840, and yet everything in between must be looked into; the problem with this is that some important points might be missed due to so much detail having to be covered. Another limitation might be the multiple contradictory opinions surrounding the issue, but I hope to address all of them. 2. Background In 1840, Britain’s colonial government signed a Treaty with the Maori people of New Zealand which would later be known as the Treaty of Waitangi. The signing of this Treaty came after much deliberation by the Queen and a growing concern for the welfare of New Zealand’s indigenous peoples. The Treaty was meant to provide those indigenous people (and especially the Maori) with some degree of autonomy (not absolute autonomy) over the lands they inhabited as well as resources around them. These included rivers and other natural resources which were considered sacred or holy among the Maori (Orange 1987, pg.41). Despite the British government’s assumptions that the Treaty would signal the protection of the rights of the Maori people, there were subtle differences that were never looked into seriously. According to Henry Williams (who translated the original text from English to Maori) the Maori translation was literal, meaning the indigenous peoples viewed the agreement from a different perspective compared to the British government and its representatives. The importance of the Treaty of Waitangi to New Zealand cannot be overemphasized, and this can be illustrated by the fact that it is widely considered to be the country’s founding document (Orange 1987, pg.36). The Resource Management Act of 1991 was formulated as an agreement between the New Zealand government and the Maori, and took into consideration the opinions, views and input of the Maori. As a result of this, the Act was heavily influenced by what the Maori people felt needed to be done and what was seemingly not being done (Nolan, & Somerville 2001, pg.25). This Act had a major impact on the manner in which New Zealand’s natural resources were shared, managed and exploited. It was now almost impossible to ignore the Maori whenever there was an issue touching on the country’s natural resources. It frequently refers to the Treaty of Waitangi and the recommendations made by the Waitangi Tribunals recommendations with regards to natural resources (land, minerals, forests, water, fisheries and geothermal power). Those recommendations were looked into and all the necessary clauses were included. The Act is significant since it outlines how New Zealand’s natural resources can be managed without interfering with the environment. According to Section 5 of the Act, its core function was the sustainable management all resources, and it goes ahead to define sustainable in terms of the environment, economics and social life. The principles of Waitangi are the last important element of this study; they provide a framework on how the Treaty should be implemented without watering down or undermining its primary function and robbing it of its meaning. According to Calman (2003, pg.20), there are 5 main principles associated with the Treaty, and they include the principles of equality, reasonable co-operation, government, redress and that of self-management. These principles are significant owing to the fact that without them the Treaty would be meaningless; this simply shows that they lend credibility to the entire Treaty (Calman 2003, pg.24). River Waikato, Views of the Crown and the Maori River Waikato is New Zealand’s longest river, flowing 425 kilometers from Mount Ruapehu to the Tasman Sea (Robinson 2010, pg.37). The Waikato River Hydro Scheme (that is managed by Mighty River Power) consists of a total of 8 dams and 9 hydroelectric power stations. Together, they generate 13% of the country’s total power output. The Maori people view the river as sacred and intrinsic to their well-being; when the river is polluted or “harmed” in any way they also suffer. The Waikato-Tainui consider the Waikato River to be their tupuna (ancestor), which exudes mana (prestige) (Mahuta 1997, pg.21). They view the river with a lot of pride and try as much as possible to preserve it since it is a symbol of life and its wellbeing correlates with their health and continued prosperity. On the other hand, the Crown does not appear to take the river as seriously as the Waikato-Tainui do. For example, a look at the claims made by the Motunui-Waitara in 1981 reveals that the Crown had failed to act on extensive pollution of the river until the community complained about it (Robinson 2010, pg.44). This necessitated the formation of the Waitangi Tribunal which recommended that the Crown had neglected the welfare of the Maori (and by extension the welfare of the Waikato River) and should therefore, henceforth, pay more attention to the needs of the Maori. Image 1: The Waikato River System (Robinson, 2010) Image 2: The Waikato River passing through Hamilton City (Robinson, 2010) 3. Discussion From the moment the Treaty was signed, it was clear that there were differences in interpretation between the Maori and the British colonial government. As previously mentioned in this report, Henry Williams (the person who translated the Treaty from English to Maori) clearly stated that there were notable differences in the Maori and English versions of the Treaty. For example, in the preamble of the Treaty, the English version indicates that the objective was to establish a government that would maintain law and order, protect the interests of the Maori from the British settlement that was encroaching on their lands and to facilitate British settlement (Calman 2003, pg.13). On the other hand, the Maori version insinuated that the Queen had promised to establish a government and at the same time secure Maori land ownership and tribe rangatiratanga for as long as the Maori deemed it fit to retain it (Strudwick 2005, pg.57). We can see here that the British and Maori views are already clashing right from the preamble; we have not even looked at the articles within the Treaty yet. In the first article, the English version says that the Maori leaders ceded to the Queen all the powers of sovereignty and rights over their land. The Maori translation on the other hand says that their leaders gave the Queen te kawanatanga katoa (absolute autonomy over their land) (Calman 2003, pg.17). From this, we can conclude that differences in translation and interpretation led to the disagreements which would later emerge concerning the management of New Zealand’s resources. The Resource Management Act (1991) stated that its primary function was to promote the “sustainable management of all natural and physical resources” (Resource Management Act 1998, Section 5). In addition to this, all persons who exercising powers and functions under the Act shall pay particular attention to: a) Kaitiakitanga (stewardship or guardianship)……………. d) Intrinsic values of ecosystems……… e) ……heritage values of sites (Resource Management Act 1998, Section 7) It is worth noting that the Resource Management Act was passed after the Waitangi Tribunal’s term had expired and its recommendations presented to the government of New Zealand. At that time, the Act was therefore the most current document to reshape the relationship between the Crown and the Maori in light of resource management until the signing of a Deed of Settlement in 2008 and its revision in 2009. The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi included the following: a) The Principle of Government b) The Principle of Self-management (Rangatiratanga principle) c) The Principle of Equality d) The Principle of Reasonable Co-operation e) The Principle of Redress It is crucial to examine principle (d), which states that: “both the government and Iwi (Maori tribes) are supposed to co-operate on important issues which they both share, and that reasonable co-operation can only occur if consultation is carried out on a lot of issues” (Orange 1987, pg.51). This simply means that whenever an important matter that affects both the Crown and the Maori (such as the one concerning the Waikato) arises, both parties should sit down and negotiate in order to reach an amicable solution. Finally, let’s take a look at the Deed of Settlement that was signed in 2008 and revised in 2009. It recommended that an authority (the Waikato River Authority) be established to manage the Waikato River. The government ensured that the Maori and their waka (sub tribes) were well represented in the authority by allowing a total of 6 members from Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa River, Waikato-Tainui, Raukawa and Maniapoto iwi (Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package 2008, pg.35). . The amendment bill stipulated that those 6 members (sitting on the boards of both the Waikato River Authority and Waikato Regional Council) had the powers to rule over the following consent requests: a) requests to dam, use, take or divert water into or from the river (Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package 2008, pg.19) b) requests to discharge to the river ((Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package 2008, pg.22) c) requests to conduct certain activities relating to the river as listed in Section 13 of the Resource Management Act 1991; (Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package 2008, pg.22) In addition to this, the Waikato Regional Council was to work with the Waikato-Tainui in relation to the Waikato River (Part 2, inserting New Clauses 29A-29O) (Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package 2008, pg.27). This Deed of Settlement therefore reveals that the Maori and other iwi have the right to be heard whenever any dispute arises over the management of the country’s resources. They have the right to air their opinions and to be listened to by the Crown, since this settlement views them as partners and not subjects of the government of New Zealand. After looking at the Treaty of Waitangi, the Resource Management Act (RMA), the principles and the Deed of Settlement, it is clear that government of New Zealand (the Crown) owns the waters of the Waikato River. The Maori are only supposed to be listened to and consulted whenever actions need to be taken with regards to the wavers of the river; they are also supposed to be listened to whenever any issue is not clear with regards to the Waikato River. In essence, they are like partners to the Crown, and their opinions and views must count. The Principle of Equality states that there should be legal equality between the Maori and other citizens of Crown; this signifies equality under the law. The government of New Zealand therefore owns the waters of the Waikato River. 4. Conclusions and Recommendations In light of the evidence presented above, the findings arrived upon as well as the discussion of those evidence and findings; I present the following conclusions and recommendations: i) The government of New Zealand (the Crown) and not the Maori, owns the waters of the Waikato River. ii) The Crown should however consult the Maori before selling Mighty River Power since it manages the Waikato River, which is highly regarded among the Maori. iii) The Crown should work together with the Maori in order to foster better and more cordial relationship that is based on trust and openness. 5. Student’s Declaration I have not copied any part of this report from any other person’s work, except as correctly referenced. Collaboration: No other person has written any part of this report for me. Student Name: ______________________________ Student declaration of the above ;___________________________( signature) Date____/____/_______ Word Count: 2658 6. References Calman, R. 2003, The Treaty of Waitangi, Auckland, N.Z.: Reed. Mahuta, R. T. 1997, Issues in Maori development: the Tainui settlement, vision & reality, Christchurch, N.Z.: Macmillan Brown Centre, University of Canterbury. Nolan, D., & Somerville, R. 2001, Resource Management Act update, Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Law Society. Orange, C. 1987, The Treaty of Waitangi, Wellington: Allen & Unwin. Resource Management Act 1991: report, 1998, Wellington, N.Z.: Ministry for the Environment. Robinson, I. D. 2010, Waikato River: its people, places & history, Auckland, N.Z.: David Bateman. Strudwick, L. 2005, Maori, New York: Weigl Publishers. Waikato Raupatu River Settlement: information package, August 2008, 2008, Hamilton, N.Z.: Waikato Raupatu Lands Trust. 7. Glossary Iwi: literally means bone in the Maori community, meaning a group of people who are connected through a common ancestor. In contemporary terms it means a tribe. Tupuna: Maori for ancestor Mana: Maori term meaning pride, prestige or generally good feeling towards something. Rangatiratanga: Maori word meaning to self-sufficiency, self-management or conservation Kaitiakitanga: Maori term for guardianship or stewardship Te kawanatanga katoa: Maori word meaning total or absolute control Read More