By: hj

hj — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:00:47 +0000

And what does it commit us to? Is that the real fear? It commits us to recognising what Te Tiriti o Waitangi stands for, which is a great opportunity for Pākehā and tauiwi katoa because, as the Hon Tau Henare said, it is our unique identity. It is what makes us wonderful in the world, and it is what makes us hold our heads up and say we are not at war. Since 1840, when Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, it has been a commitment to negotiation and dialogue. I do not know what people would prefer, but I know that the Green Party would prefer that we were not at war; that what happened in 1840 was a declaration of peace and a declaration for continuing dialogue and negotiation. Otherwise, what have we got as a nation? We have not got anything. What we have got is unfinished business and unfinished battles. Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Māori text, must be recognised, and there is a principle called contra proferentem that recognises the Māori text—I always thought it sounded like “contraception”; I was not quite sure what it was—and it is an international way in which we recognise indigenous language texts. That is what Te Tiriti stands for.

What this bill would do would be to allow some of us who have learned about this—not sufficiently through our education system, because it has failed to educate successive generations on this issue—to uphold what we truly believe is an opportunity for harmony, peace, and justice, not only in this Whare but in every place where New Zealanders or new citizens or representatives take an oath or make a declaration. It is not threatening the foundation of the Crown. Many people are afraid that if we recognise Te Tiriti in this way, it might somehow undermine the Crown, and in no way does it do that. Many people who believe in republicanism think that we do not need the Crown, but actually what Te Tiriti does is far more fundamental. What is disturbing about the rejection of this opportunity is that we should be applying this to all our work because it is a spirit that enriches us all as a nation, and if we believe in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the National Government upheld in theory, it has to be seen in practice. It has to be implemented in reality.

I have a bill that complements my colleague’s, and it is a citizenship amendment bill in the ballot that would ensure that all new citizens, when they came to the ceremony, had an opportunity to learn about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to understand whose rohe they were in—who were the tangata whenua. It would allow mayors to decide how they did it and to actually acknowledge that. My bill is complementary to my colleague’s because rather than wait for the constitutional debate to reach whatever conclusion, in every day and every way we need to stand up for Te Tiriti. This opportunity should be upheld, and I want to honour Te Ururoa Flavell tonight.
http://www.greens.org.nz/speeches/catherine-delahunty-oaths-and-declarations-upholding-treaty-waitangi-amendment-bill-first-0

“war” (according to her characterisation of the present), conflict, at loggerheads….. paying rent… what’s the difference?

Comments on: Parliament 14 November 2012

By: hj