I have lived and worked most of my life in countries where English is not the dominant language, and I have learned time and time again the importance and value of respecting the languages of the people and learning to speak at least some key phrases, if not the entire language.
Consequently, I firmly believe the teaching and learning of te reo Māori is the single most important thing we can do to help reinstate the dignity, respect and self-respect - that is, the mana - of our Māori people, our tangata whenua.
I believe it is the loss of this mana that lies behind every one of the negative socioeconomic statistics where Māori people are over-represented in our population.
Children hold signs at a Hastings protest over what's been perceived as the Government marginalising Māori language and health. Photo / Warren Buckland
Domestic violence, child abuse and deaths, crimes, prison population, drug abuse, including alcohol and tobacco, gang membership, youth suicide, unemployment, poverty and homelessness; every one of these damning statistics are testament to the loss and lack of mana.
The solution to every one of these terrible social problems afflicting many of our Māori people will not be found in more severe punishment, bigger prisons, more intensive surveillance by social workers and banning gang patches, or even more welfare spending.
We need to get back to the root causes of these ills and deal with them. We need healing, not punishment.
If I am right in concluding that the core problem is loss of mana, then the only way to address the problem is through the rebuilding of the mana of our tangata whenua. Learning te reo is one important way we can all help to do this.
Our forebears signed a treaty. The expression “principles of the Treaty” is frequently being used and sometimes abused these days, but to my mind, the single most important principle is that the signatories agreed to live together in this land and respect each other’s customs and mana in a multi-cultural society.
Let’s do this. Let’s show our respect for te reo Māori, encourage both Māori and non-Māori to learn the language and speak it, and show our support for our tangata whenua in rebuilding their mana and healing their people. Let’s make Aotearoa New Zealand a better place to live for all of us.
John Crook
Napier
Ignoring rail is ‘1980s thinking’
It seems as if Napier MP Katie Nimon is now trying to prevent the rebuilding of the Napier to Wairoa railway.
Like most politicians of the right, she doesn’t see that all of the rail and roadways are severely damaged in the region, mostly because of too much road traffic and insufficient rail traffic.
Nimon says there is just one log train, but she needs to understand how many log trucks that is equivalent to, and what the cut in CO2 emissions is when the train is used instead.
She also needs to talk to the loggers who use the service and see what they think. Closing rail lines and building more roads is 1980s thinking.
The world has moved on, and those who ignore that will be left in the dust in the not-too-distant future.
National co-ordinator of The Rail Advocacy Collective (TRAC)
Time to establish a ‘register of visions’
For 50 years, New Zealand governments have largely failed to progressively improve life for 98 per cent of the country’s citizens. There have been occasional sporadic “wins” for some of us, mostly from lucky breaks.
“New Zealand the way you want it” never happened, but I want to make it real.
For some years now, we have been in decline - socially and economically - with none of the current political players - for that’s what they are, players - capable of painting a vision of how life could or should be, much less any idea as to how to deliver it!
It’s high time we crafted a better way! I propose the following….
Re-define and confirm “democracy” as being when a government actually delivers what all the people want and need - not just 2 per cent. Currently, we have a system that does not deliver to the 98 per cent and never will.
Establish a national “register of visions” summarising the will of the people (with regard to health, housing, education, employment, crime and safety, drugs, immigration, taxation, societal cohesion, foreign affairs, trade and industry, etc). It should be established at census time and updated daily.
Establish a government that formulates policies to deliver the will of the people - as defined by the national “register of visions”. This government will work co-operatively together to deliver the people’s will - not their own.
Mike Lloyd
Masterton
Act’s policies could backfire
The article in Hawke’s Bay Today by Audrey Young (December 4) rightly raises the potential for the Act party policy in the coalition agreement to seriously backfire.
At its highest, to call into question the Treaty is to call into question the right to govern at all. No doubt Māori would see it that way. The authority to establish a democratic state was ceded under the Treaty (Article 1, sovereignty or kawanatanga). An exercise in democracy like a referendum cannot replace that authority, or it risks undermining the legitimacy of Government in the first place. It is a bit like kicking out a stool or ladder underneath you and expecting not to come crashing to the floor.
In my view, co-governance can be firmly founded in the Treaty itself, without needing to rely on the Treaty principles of concern to the Act Party, including that of “partnership”. Act’s version of the Treaty principles, as outlined in Audrey Young’s article, is no less recent a invention than that of the courts. The difference is that the court-derived principles were set by some of the greatest legal minds the country has ever produced, including those on the Waitangi Tribunal.
All legalities aside, co-governance at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is rock-solid regarding both specific Treaty settlement legislation and our culture as an organisation. It is not going anywhere. Referendum or no referendum, we will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Treaty partner, representing the voice of our Māori communities directly at the council table.
