Treaty principles should be principles of good government - Māori academic

Māori legal scholar and university lecturer Carwyn Jones.

Māori legal scholar Carwyn Jones says the coalition Government’s intention to exclude Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation may be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Jones, who teaches at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka and Te Wānanga o Raukawa as well as co-editing the Maori Law Review, says there are references to Treaty principles in more than 50 laws.

Earlier this month when the Fast-Track Approvals Bill - which sets out a process for ministers to approve significant infrastructure projects - was unveiled, it did not have a general Treaty of Waitangi clause.

Jones says since the Treaty of Waitangi Act was passed in 1975, Treaty principles have become an important mechanism for the courts to ensure Māori rights are recognised and for government agencies to understand their obligations.

He said it’s a principle of good government that you understand what rights are impacted by laws or decisions.

“There would also be questions that would arise as to what extent the courts would be willing to read in Treaty obligations, to interpret legislation by saying ‘we know the Crown has Treaty obligations so we will assume that Parliament has constructed this legislation with the event of giving effect to those principles where there is the ability to do that, where it is not expressly ruled out by Parliament’,” Jones says.

Adam Gifford, Waatea.News.Com