And you guys are going to agree with them as you who think you are rational but are not. Led by your feelings and trying to justify them is not rational.

Around 1973 one would not have been able to pick that assimilation of Maori would not occur. That we did not go that way and we (some of us grudgingly and with kiwi not iwi resistance still strong) moved to a bi-cultiural nation polity has helped us to cope with the development of a multi-cultural society New Zealand.

Viking2 – Rata’s positon is nonsense. She confuses the founding of a nation with the founding of self-government (1852). The USA did not found their constitutional government when they declared independence. Which is their national day?

tedbear, a Crown role providing for the rule of law was about property rights – for both Maori and Pakeha settlers. Having both equal before the same law was the pre-requisite for peaceful settlement. Thus this day provided for the settlement here of non Maori in peace with Maori.

As to a New Zealand Day – this was established in 1973 by a Labour government, a National government in 1976 renamed it Waitangi Day. What is novel about this country is that we did not celebrate a national day for over 130 years.

Is it because we were too much the loyal colony and that Labour’s action in 1973 was only possible because the UK went into the EEC?

Are we really waiting to wait to take up the 1901 offer of Oz of state membership (we get a January day) or become a republic (we get to pick a day to do this)?

And then there’s your ‘debate’ crap?
Debate what for Pete’s Sake?

I’m utterly sick and tired of all the crap that spews forth that this and this and this and this is part of the PEACE TREATY.
Like yea, let’s claim the water that started life forming rainclouds in Canada or Zimbabwe or Timbuktoo.

Or we could debate why the PEACE TREATY must have a place in my JOB CONTRACT.

Yep, we could debate some meaningful things to improve the lives of all people that live in New Zealand, but first let’s leave this PEACE TREATY to rest peacefully, untouched, unchanged in the National Museum with all the other history artefacts because it has no place in everyday life 2013.
It’s history.

Dr Rata explains, “I was surprised to read in Deborah Coddington’s recent Herald column that the Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document. Of course some New Zealanders mistakenly believe that is the case. Where the belief becomes a problem is when a member of the Government appointed and funded Constitutional Advisory Panel such as Deborah Coddington states that this is so. In describing the Treaty as our founding document she has jumped the gun somewhat in anticipating the panel’s recommendations about the status of the Treaty.”

Dr Rata concludes her excellent article – which we have republished HERE – with the following comments: “To simply assert that the Treaty is our founding document, as Deborah Coddington has done, is not good enough. Not only are there other contenders for the status of founding document (if we want one); the 1852 Constitutional Act springs to mind, but the strategic use of the Treaty in iwi politics to undermine democracy at all levels of our political system means that the Treaty is tainted as a symbol of national unity.”

Not only is the Treaty tainted as a symbol of national unity, so is Waitangi Day. It is time that our political leaders realise what most of the country already knows, that the only way forward is as a nation united as New Zealanders, not divided by the politics of race.

http://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/elizabeth-rata-treaty-is-not-new.html

To really shove it up the left and Klark it should also be the day we hand out knighthoods and the like.

It’s one of the few things Key’s said I agree with.

A solution could be: when Maori language is being used call the country “Aotearoa” and when English is being used call it “New Zealand”.

From this, when “Aotearoa” crops up in English would be either within quotation marks or printed in italic – either to show the word is from outside the English language. Similarly, when “New Zealand” crops up in Maori, it could be put in quotation marks or italics, or differentiated in any other way Maori grammarians recommend.

Rows about place names could disappear. In English, “Whanganui” could have remained Wanganui, and in Maori Mt Egmont could always have been “Taranaki”.

English frequently, perhaps even mostly, allows English versions of non-English place names, for example Rome for “Roma”, Munich for “Munchen”,Cologne for “Koln”, and sometimes still Burma for “Myanmar”.

Waitangi Day is not our national day, not until (some) Maori start treating the day with a little respect. Shearer’s pronouncement that “we’ll always have some tension and we just have to learn to deal with it” is utter tripe – there doesn’t need to be any tension on Waitangi Day.

I would rather dispense with the day (and the stat holiday) than have it as our national day.

Because the independence milestones David details were of only minor incremental significance in the days when we were Britain’s farm with little internal cultural pressure to break free from the mother ship, there is no milestone in that gentle journey that has grabbed the nation’s psyche enough to become an Independence day. Waitangi has won by default since it celebrates a cerebral legal document and has no other Constitution of significance to compete against. To some extent February 6th has become a manufactured day of independence particularly since activist courts have elevated the document to a constitution like status. Even Australia can point to the ratification of its Constitution and the creation of the Commonwealth of States making Australia Day a definitive legal and cultural dividing line between the old and the new regimes.

Without a compelling and historically rooted narrative around the day, is it any wonder that it has been so easily hijacked by random Maori activists who use the presence of the Prime Minister, the Governor General and the media to beat up whatever cause is flavour of the month. It’s a shame because celebrating the birth of a nation is a powerful moment and NZ has much to celebrate as a nation.

Comrade Joris speaks: “That’s reality. We’re not at the point that everybody has a good sense of indigenous rights and Treaty rights. Race relations in New Zealand is a journey. But given that we continue to make progress, over time people will come to embrace the outcomes.“

April 1st for Establishment of the Republic of Aotearoa Day.

cheers

David Prosser

If it’s to be a Public Holiday, then go for a date in August or early September – it’s a long time between drinks from celebrating the Queen’s birthday to remembering the 40 hour week.

If we add another day we’ll run out of worthy people to honour & will have to give gongs to MP’s & their anonymous business brown noser mates….oh wait, we already do that.

Yeh, right.

Now, “Happy New Zealand day”, yes, but that will not get widespread uptake while Waitangi Day continues to be little (or nothing) more than a parade ground for Maori issues.

Australia celebrates their Australia Day very well, it is inclusive and recognises the country as a whole. It would be a good model, but how do we transition to something like that?

Other than a day off work, I suspect most New Zealanders don’t give a toss about Waitangi Day and are turned off by the posturing in North Auckland.