Review of treaty possible says PM

By AUDREY YOUNG political editor

Prime Minister Helen Clark says she is prepared to consider holding a parliamentary inquiry into constitutional issues such as the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand.

Her comments came in an interview with the Weekend Herald in which she talks about treaty principles, her lack of consultation with Maori MPs, lifting tapu on embassies and her attachment to the land.

Helen Clark dismissed a call for a royal commission on the treaty's future, but on the issue of a parliamentary select committee inquiry said: "That's a possibility. I'm prepared to consider it."

Her comments have been welcomed as "a good starting point" by United Future leader Peter Dunne, who also said the treaty could be renegotiated and amended if necessary as part of a wider constitutional review.

But National, riding high in the polls since leader Don Brash made race an issue with his Orewa speech on January 27, believes the time is not right for an inquiry.

Leading Maori and Pakeha commentators in today's Weekend Herald - which in the Review section analyses the way forward in the race debate - have also called for new approaches.

Maori educationist Dr Pita Sharples wants "a new Magna Carta" to update the Treaty of Waitangi by acknowledging Maori as the country's first inhabitants, but recognising the role of Pakeha, Pacific Islanders and Asian migrants.

Dr Ranginui Walker says it is "as good a time as any" to debate a new constitution after the huge Pakeha response to Dr Brash's call to end "special treatment" for Maori.

"If we had a constitution which set all these things out, then perhaps Pakeha New Zealanders would feel less threatened and more confident about their place in New Zealand."

Historian and author Michael King this week also endorsed the idea of an investigation that allowed public submissions.

A parliamentary inquiry was put on the table last year when United Future was weighing up whether to support the Supreme Court Bill ending appeals to the Privy Council. But the Government withdrew any commitment after United Future decided not to support the bill.

Mr Dunne believed a parliamentary inquiry could lead to a longer-term and wider look at constitutional issues - including republicanism and whether New Zealand needed a written constitution.

"I don't see the treaty as a document as a once-and-for-all thing. If the treaty needs to be amended, renegotiated as part of any constitutional change, then it should be."

National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee had no enthusiasm for a cross-party inquiry "at the moment".

"The points of political difference at the moment are quite wide."

The differences are underscored by yesterday's NBR-Phillips Fox poll which shows National on 44 per cent support and Labour on 38 per cent.

Poll ratings and public reaction in the wake of Dr Brash's "special privileges" claims over Maori prompted the Government to announce an audit of policies to ensure they were based on need not race and saw the Prime Minister this week attack National for "cynical" politics that fuelled division.

The Government can expect to be in the gun again next week - from both sides of the race debate - over one of the sore point subjects, ownership of the foreshore and seabed.

The Waitangi Tribunal has found that the Government breached the treaty in a rushed development of its contentious policy and recommends that it stop everything and consult Maori more fully.

The comment is made in a report to be issued on Monday. It recommends that claims to the foreshore be allowed to run their course in the Maori Land Court.

And Associate Maori Affairs Minister Tariana Turia says Maori "souls have been fractured" by the race debate. "It is going past simple disagreements over policy. It is causing a seething anger."