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Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has called for the establishment of an independent Treaty commissioner.
Mr Harawira said today said such a commissioner could advocate for the treaty and highlight related legal inconsistencies in a way similar to the current children's commissioner.
The role would ensure all New Zealanders had a say on Treaty issues, not just politicians.
Mr Harawira used a morning church service on the Treaty Grounds yesterday to call for the new role and today repeated the call.
"We have a commissioner for children, we have a commissioner for the environment," he said on Newstalk ZB.
"There is no reason whatsoever why we shouldn't have a commissioner for the Treaty -- someone whose only role is to protect and promote the Treaty as a central document in our history and our constitutional future."
He said the person he would pick as the first commissioner would be former chief Maori Land Court judge Eddie Durie, who was respected in Maori, Pakeha and judicial circles.
Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday declined to comment on the idea until she had seen more details.
Mr Harawira today said he had floated the idea of a commissioner, personally and it was not yet Maori Party policy.
However, the party's four-member caucus was discussing the idea.
But treaty historian Dr Paul Moon said today that Mr Harawira's proposal was a no goer.
Dr Moon, principal lecturer faculty of Maori development at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), asked what a commissioner would actually do, given there was already a Waitangi Tribunal.
He said a commission had the potential of creating another layer of bureaucracy and the idea sounded like political sloganeering by Mr Harawira.
- NZPA
