Greens float circular solution for treaty questions

By HELEN TUNNAH

Welcome to the Green Party's "national dialogue" on the Treaty of Waitangi - a cross between a knitting circle and a book club.

Not for them a royal commission on the status of the treaty. Instead, the Greens want everyone to sit around in their natural groups - presumably down at the pub counts as a "study circle" - and agonise over what the treaty does, or should, mean in the 21st century.

People will be helped to think by a facilitator - groups can pick their own if they want - and a resource kit which will include questions to provoke opinions, and forms for recording viewpoints.

No one will be rushed to find a solution for the constitutional debate; groups can take as long as they need to reach a conclusion. As the Greens say: "There's no point in rushing a process like this."

When it's all over, and that could take years, people chosen for their independence and desire to protect the integrity of the process will combine everyone's thinking into a "national report for New Zealanders".

And that may be used to kick off another round of discussion.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons yesterday said New Zealanders would, if given the chance, take the time to become involved in a national debate about the treaty and broader constitutional issues, such as republicanism.

The idea of a national dialogue had been put forward because New Zealand's constitutional future was too important to be left to grandstanding politicians.

"These issues can't be resolved in 30-second soundbites," she said. "We need to be thinking about them as a whole nation in the context of the next 100 years."

Ms Fitzsimons said that in Sweden more than 2 million people were registered in "study circles", and they were also being used in the US.