te Heuheu Georgina: Treaty of Waitangi (Principles) Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Treaty of Waitangi (Principles) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1431] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 National supports this bill to select committee not necessarily because we believe in everything it proposes but because we think that it presents an opportunity to consider what the impact of the insertion of the phrase “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” into legislation means. It is timely in this sense. We have seen over the last 6 years references to the Treaty of Waitangi inserted everywhere by the Labour Government and we have come to the conclusion that it has been put in so many places now that it has been rendered almost meaningless. For that and a number of other reasons some of which were covered by my colleague Gerry Brownlee we support the bill to select committee. What we do beyond that will depend on the outcome of the discussions and deliberations that go on in the select committee. 
The phrase “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” to my knowledge first appeared in the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. As far as I am aware that is when it was first used. As a person who sat on the Waitangi Tribunal for 10 years endeavouring to interpret that phrase I can appreciate I think exactly why the Parliament chose to include that phrase in the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. That Act set up the Waitangi Tribunal to inquire into acts or omissions of the Crown that were seen to be in breach of “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. The legislature at the time could just as easily I suppose have made reference to the Treaty of Waitangi. But given that the Treaty of Waitangi and what it stands for is to be found in both a Maori version and an English version I probably agree with the approach at the time of recognising the underlying thrust of the Treaty being found in two versions—in the Maori language and the English language—that someone in his or her wisdom decided to insert the phrase “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. 
Having sat on the Waitangi Tribunal for that length of time I think it was the right approach simply because if one thinks about it most Maori signatories actually signed the Maori version. The aspirations of the British Government I imagine were put to Maori at the time of the signing in terms that they understood and looking back and leaving to one side the difficulties that have arisen over the years I think that was probably a wise decision. 
I think where we come to now though is that we have seen under the current Labour Government a tendency to put the Treaty everywhere. I say that that is actually a cop-out. In a moment I also want to say a few words aimed at te iwi Maori—Maori people. It is a cop-out because in a way it hides a hundred shades of meaning. If one keeps inserting “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” then we have what has arisen which is everybody has difficulty trying to understand what that is. 
I remember when the Labour Government put through its reforming health legislation I think in 2001 I stood here in this House and said that rather than insert a reference to the Treaty one should say instead what it is that one wants to achieve. 
If what members want to achieve is that Maori be consulted because they think that that is one of the principles then they should say that. But they should not put into legislation a clause that everybody then ponders over and nobody knows what it means. 
Coming to this present bill I say that there are a number of reasons why I think we should support it. It gives us an opportunity to think about the way that the clause has been used and demeaned over the last 20 years. Maori people refer to the Treaty as he kawenata which is a sacred pact. We have to ask ourselves Maori if we can allow the legislature to put that clause everywhere then how sacred is it? Because if everybody can say what they think it means then ultimately it means nothing. So National supports the bill to select committee.