Ririnui Mita: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — First Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21170] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 It has been widely accepted over the last decade in this country that the Treaty of Waitangi is a founding document of Aotearoa. It is an exchange of guarantees between two sovereign peoples giving rise to obligations on both parties. Maori ceded to the Crown the power to govern New Zealand and in exchange the Crown guaranteed to protect their identity including their rights to their lands and other possessions. The Crown also guaranteed to Maori the same rights and privileges as British citizens. 
The treaty is an important part of the foundation upon which government was established in Aotearoa. Like all treaties it gives rise to duties on the Crown—duties that as a matter of conscience the Crown should comply with. This is often referred to as the honour of the Crown. Governments have therefore chosen on a case by case basis to give force to the treaty by an Act of Parliament doing what is appropriate in each case according to the circumstances. That has sometimes meant incorporating a reference to take into account the principles of the treaty and the application of the Act. This considered approach is most ably demonstrated in the Local Government Act 2002. Section 4 of that Act specifically notes that it is the Crown’s responsibility rather than that of local government to take into account the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. 
Hon Members 
: What are they? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Patience gentlemen; I will come to them. Treaty principles are the way in which the Government sets out what the treaty means for the Crown. It is not appropriate to put such references in all legislation; nor is it appropriate to remove them from all legislation. To do so would signal the Crown’s walking away from its duties and obligations. So what are these principles? The member for Tauranga has been should I say promoting the removal of these principles for many many years. However I find it highly unlikely that he is not aware of what the principles of the treaty actually are given that he was the Deputy Prime Minister in 1996 and had ample opportunity to play his cards. As the member well knows in the 1987 lands case the Court of Appeal elaborated the principles of the treaty as required by section 9 of the State Owned Enterprises Act. In that judgment the President of the Court of Appeal Sir Robin Cooke wrote the principles of partnership active protection and redress. 
In 1989 the fourth Labour Government drawing on the principles that had been developed to date including past judgments from the courts published a set of five principles to assist the Government when making decisions about matters related to the treaty. In April 2002 the then Attorney-General the Hon Margaret Wilson advised Parliament that these are the principles that the Government considers to be relevant. The first principle is the principle of Government meaning that the Government has the right to govern and make laws. The principle of self-management means that iwi have the right to organise as iwi under the law and to control the resources they own. The principle of equality means that all New Zealanders are equal under the law. The principle of reasonable cooperation means that both the Government and iwi are obliged to accord each other reasonable cooperation on major issues of common concern. Finally the principle of redress means that the Government is responsible for providing effective processes for the resolution of grievances in the expectation that reconciliation can occur. The treaty principle of redress is obviously relevant to my portfolio as Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and the work of the Office of Treaty Settlements. 
In July 2000 the Government published the principles that it felt should guide the treaty settlement work. They are good faith restoration of relationship just redress fairness between claims and transparency in Government-negotiated settlements. For those members who wish to be informed on this area of New Zealand’s constitution I recommend to the House and to those members that they refer to the publication by Te Puni Kokiri called  
He Tirohanga o Kawa ki te Tiriti o Waitangi 
. It is an excellent summary of the history of the treaty and its legal place in New Zealand’s society. Members need look no further to gain this understanding. On the question of legislative reference to the principles of the treaty the publication states: “The differences in the Maori and English texts of the Treaty of Waitangi have led to different understandings of the meaning of the Treaty. These differences coupled with the need to apply the Treaty in contemporary circumstances led Parliament to refer to the principles of the Treaty in legislation rather than to the Treaty text.”—as the member expects the Government to do. It is the principles therefore that the courts have considered when interpreting in legislation references to the treaty. As Justice McKay noted in the broadcasting case in 1992 it is the principles of the treaty that are to be applied not the liberal words. The English and Maori texts in the first schedule of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 are not translations one of the other. The differences between the texts and the shades of meaning are less important than the spirit. 
The Government is committed to working through the challenges of the treaty settlement process in an honourable manner and to reaching fair settlement with due regard to the treaty and the principles of the treaty which I have once again explained. I find the ideas expressed in the bill that the Crown should simply walk away from its duties under the Treaty of Waitangi by deleting references in legislation to the principles of the treaty both deliberately ignorant and morally repugnant. I think it has become quite clear during my speech that the Government will be opposing the first reading of this bill. I am astounded that this bill has come to the House. I think of the treaty settlements over the last decade and I think back more than a decade perhaps one and a half decades to the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act of 1992. Although it may have taken a very long time before a number of iwi received the benefits from those settlements iwi—which many members on the other side of the House belong to—have had their fair share of settlement. That settlement was based on the Crown’s acknowledgment that it had breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and it highlighted those principles. [ 
Interruption 
] Of course it is difficult for those members on the other side of the House to accept that that is exactly the case. Once again I say that the Government will not be supporting the first reading of this bill.