KEY POINTS:
Maori radicals and Pakeha "rednecks" who think the Treaty of Waitangi should never have been signed are wrong, says Progressive Party leader and senior cabinet minister Jim Anderton.
"The Treaty was not signed out of some idea of idealism and harmony, but because an agreement about the way ahead was better than the alternative," he said today.
"Those on either side who step away from the partnership principle underlying that agreement are no different from each other."
Mr Anderton said Waitangi Day would not be celebrated tomorrow as a genuine national day because New Zealanders did not have a shared sense of ownership of the Treaty and many saw it as a document for Maori.
"It isn't. It is about much more than addressing past wrongs," he said.
"The Treaty contains important promises to Maori that on many, many occasions have been breached.
"And it contains some important promises to the rest of New Zealand, including the absolute and unreserved right to govern."
Mr Anderton said the Treaty should be honoured because it protected the rights of all New Zealanders.
"There are Maori radicals who wish the Treaty had never been signed and who want Pakeha to submit to a Maori constitution," he said.
"There are also Pakeha rednecks who wish it had never been signed and they think that if we pretend it wasn't then we won't have to honour any guarantees in the Treaty.
"Both extremes are wrong."
- NZPA
