Bold bid for common path for Crown, Maori

At issue is Maori rights over their taonga, such as the haka. The one above was performed in an Italian advertisement for Fiat cars. Photo / Supplied

Wide-ranging governmental reforms proposed by the Waitangi Tribunal point the way to a Treaty partnership which doesn't pit the Crown and Maori against each other, High Court judge Joe Williams believes.

But Moana Jackson, the lawyer who put together the original WAI 262 Treaty claim relating to intellectual property and flora and fauna, says he's hugely disappointed with the tribunal's findings.

He's not holding out much hope that the Crown will adopt many of the tribunal's recommendations, which focus on how Maori cultural values and identity can be recognised across the legal spectrum.

The tribunal's report is such a behemoth that the executive summary runs to more than a couple of hundred pages. Recommendations reach into areas as diverse as intellectual property law, the environment, health, te reo, resource management and the involvement of Maori in NZ's positions on international agreements affecting indigenous rights.

In a letter to Prime Minister John Key, Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples and 16 other ministers, Justice Williams - a former Chief Maori Land Court Judge and tribunal chairman - said NZ stood at a crossroads in terms of "race relations and a quest for a mature sense of national identity".

The reforms aimed for genuine Treaty partnerships in which the Crown is entitled to govern but Maori retain tino rangatiratanga, full authority, over their taonga (treasures).

"We pose, perhaps for the first time, the possibility of a Treaty relationship after grievance. A normalised, fully functional relationship where conflict between the Crown and Maori is not a given," Justice Williams writes.

Mr Jackson said the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which sets a minimum standard for indigenous rights, went further than the tribunal. It had two decades to form a response to the claim and during that time all but one of the original claimants had died.

"My hope ... as I went to the tangi of each of [the claimants] was that when a report finally came out it wouldn't disappoint. I wish it had done more."

His analysis showed the Crown had implemented 3 per cent of full tribunal recommendations. That didn't give him much confidence the Crown would fully implement this report.

An iwi respondent for Te Rarawa, Haami Piripi, posted a YouTube video about the report. "There's nothing in this report that the Crown ought to be able to shun.

"Everything in this report is about status quo, it's about balance, it's about moving on together, it's about being New Zealanders together."

WHAT THE WAI 262 CLAIM AROSE OUT OF

A concern that laws and policies had:

* Allowed the haka to be used in foreign television advertisements.
* Ta moko was being used to sell high fashion in Paris.
* Private companies were using traditional knowledge about the properties of indigenous plants and animals without acknowledgement or consent.
* Iwi had been denied a say in management of fauna which they saw themselves as the guardians (kaitiaki) of.

EXAMPLES OF RECOMMENDATIONS

* A new intellectual property commission would consider objections to derogatory or offensive uses of taonga, such as Ka Mate, and would allow kaitiaki to object to commercial uses of them.
* A new Maori advisory committee to advise the Commissioners of Patents and Plant Variety Rights.
* The Commissioner of Patents be granted the power to refuse patents that unduly interfere with relationships between "kaitiaki and taonga".
* Decisions about bioprospecting in Department of Conservation areas to be made between DoC and tangata whenua.
* Iwi resource management plans to be enhanced under the Resource Management Act.
* Wildlife Act amended to provide shared management of protected wildlife so no group "owns" protected wildlife - as the Crown currently does.

* * *

TE REO VERSION

E ai ki a Tiati Joe Williams, kei nga whakatikanga e tutohutia ana e Te Ropu Whakamana i te Tiriti tetahi huarahi mahi ngatahi i raro i te Tiriti. Ma te noho ngatahi e mutu ai te taukumekume o nga hoa tiriti, e ai ki a Joe.

Engari e ai ki te roia nana i whakatakoto te take Tiriti taketake mo nga taonga a-hinengaro, mo nga tipu me nga koiora, e mohiotia nei ko Wai 262, ki a Moana Jackson, kei te tino pouri ia ki nga kitenga a te Ropu Whakamana.

Ki ona whakaaro e kore pea te Karauna e whakamana i te maha o nga tohutohu matua a te Ropu Whakamana, e aronui nei ki te huarahi e taea ai nga tikanga Maori me te Maoritanga te whakapumau, puta noa i nga ture katoa.

Na te matotoru o te pukapuka a Te Ropu Whakamana, he rua rau wharangi te roa o te whakarapopototanga anake.

Ko nga tohutohu ka pa ki nga wahi penei i nga ture pupuri taonga a-hinengaro, te taiao, te hauora, te reo, te whakahaere rawa me te noho mai a te Maori ki te whiriwhiri i nga tunga o Aotearoa e pa ana ki nga kirimana a-ao mo nga motika o nga iwi taketake.

I roto i tana reta ki te Pirimia ki a John Key, ki te Minita Maori ki a Pita Sharples me etahi atu Minita 16, i puta te ki a Justice Williams kei te tu te motu nei i te ripekatanga i te huarahi "o te noho tahi o ona momo iwi, me tana whainga i tona tuakiri taipakeke."

E whai ana nga whakahoutanga i te noho tahitanga tuturu i raro i te Tiriti, e ahei ai te Karauna ki te kawana i te whenua, engari kia noho mai ko te tino rangatiratanga a te Maori ki ana taonga.

"Katahi ano pea ka tapaetia atu he tauira mo te noho tahi i raro i te Tiriti, e mutu ai te takiwa ki te nanawe, ki te hemanawa, ara, i te tapaetanga atu e matou i enei whakaaro i konei. Tera pea nga hoa e noho tahi i runga i te whakaaro pai, i runga i te rangimarie, me te wareware ano ki nga tini raruraru o mua," e ai ki nga tuhinga a Tiati Williams.

Ki a Moana, tera noa ake te tiketike o nga paerewa i poua mai i roto i te Whakapuaki a Te Huihuinga o nga Whenua o Te Ao mo nga Tika o nga Iwi Taketake, i ta te Ropu Whakamana e waitohu nei. He rua tekau tau te roa o te wa ki te Karauna ki te whiriwhiri i ana whakautu ki te kereme, a, i roto i aua tau kua matemate te hunga kereme ake, haunga te kaikereme kotahi.

"Ko taku tumanako ia ... i aku haerenga ki nga tangihanga o tena pakeke, o tena pakeke, kia puta ra ano te purongo kua tino whai kiko, kua whai take hoki. Ko taku tumanako kia kaha ake ona tohutohu."

E ai ki ana tataritanga e 3 orau noa iho o nga tohutohu matua a te Ropu i whakamanaia e te Karauna. Na reira kaore ia i te tino whakapono ka whakamanaia tenei purongo e te Karauna.

Na te kaiurupare mo Te Rarawa, na Haami Piripi i tuku atu tetahi ataata ki a YouTube mo, te purongo.

"Hore kau he aha o tenei purongo e taea ai te kaupare ki muri e te Karauna. Katoa nga ahuatanga o tenei o nga purongo ka pa ki nga tikanga o tenei wa, he wahi ano mo te tutika, he wahi ano mo te haere whakamua i runga i te whakaaro kotahi, hei mokopuna tatou katoa ma Aotearoa," e ai ki a Haami.

TE TAKENGA MAI O TE KEREME WAI 262

Nga awangawanga mo nga ture me nga kaupapa Kawanatanga, i tukua ai:

* te haka a te Maori kia whakamahia i nga panui whakaata irirangi o tawahi
* nga moko kauae me nga moko paparinga kia puta i nga mahi hokohoko kakahu i Parihi
* nga kamupene tumataiti kia whakamahi i te matauranga tuku iho mo nga rakau maori me nga kararehe, kaore he hokinga mai ki te iwi no ratou aua mohiotanga ki te inoi, ki te tono
* nga iwi Maori kia aukatingia ki waho i nga whakahaere mo nga kararehe, manu hoki, e whakapono nei ratou ko ratou nga tino kaitiaki.

HE TAUIRA NO NGA TOHUTOHU MATUA

* Kia whakaturia he komihana mo nga taonga a-hinengaro, a-wairua, mana e whiriwhiri nga whakapae mo te whakamahi pokanoa, tanoa ranei i te taonga, penei i te haka Ka Mate, e ahei ai hoki nga kaitiaki ki te whakahe ki te whakamahi i nga taonga hei arumoni.
* Tetahi komiti tohutohu Maori hou hei tohutohu i nga Kaikomihana mo nga Whakataunga Mana me nga Motika Momo Tipu.
* Kia tukua ki te Kaikomihana mo nga Whakataunga Mana te mana whakakahore i nga whakataunga mana e raru ai te here i waenga i nga kaitiaki me a ratou taonga.
* Ko nga whakatau mo te tuhura koiora i nga rohe o Te Papa Atawhai ka whiria tahitia e Te Papa Atawhai me te tangata whenua. Kia whakawhanuitia nga mahere whakahaere rawa a-iwi i raro i te Ture Whakahaere Rawa.
* Kia menamenatia te Wildlife Act kia noho ai te whakahaere ngatahi mo nga koiora i ata tiakina e te ture, kia kaua e noho ko tetahi ropu kotahi hei "kaipupuri" mo nga koiora - kia kaua ai e penei me te mana pupuri o te Karauna o tenei wa.