Davis seeking partnership with Ma¯ori
Three months ago Crown/Ma¯ori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis set off on a mission to find a way to repair the relationship between the Crown and Ma¯ori. Today the final hui will bring together the words of Ma¯ori from across the country who shared their vision for mending the partnership first signed back on February 6, 1840. Davis spoke to Jo
Moir about Ma¯ori aspirations in a postTreaty settlement era.
Ma¯ ori are over-represented in just about every negative social statistic in New Zealand and ultimately they just want to achieve results and success that are ‘‘no different to nonMa¯ ori’’.
For Kelvin Davis, who has been given a ministerial portfolio that has never existed until now, that is the end goal for him – achieve that and his work will be complete.
It was 173 years ago when Hone Heke chopped down the flag pole for the fourth time and the land wars broke out.
Davis says he was recalling this on March 11 when he attended the first commemoration of the Ma¯ ori land wars in Russell and in his speech commented that Heke did not chop the flag pole down in a ‘‘spur of the moment thing just to be a rascal’’. ‘‘It was an act of frustration built up over a number of years since the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
‘‘1845 was the ultimate sign of a breakdown in relations between Ma¯ ori and the Crown at the time.’’
How Ma¯ ori protest or attempt to settle differences has changed over the years and now it is the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal that deal with the bulk of it but really ‘‘that’s just a big waste of everyone’s time, energy and resources’’, says Davis. ‘‘Does it have to be that way?’’ Davis anticipates there will always be a place for the Waitangi Tribunal but says ‘‘wouldn’t it be good if we could have an intermediary step that we could sit down and work things out together as you do in a partnership’’.
The biggest surprise of the hui, which covered towns and cities from Kaitaia to Invercargill and Gisborne to Waitara, was the fact not one person got up and demanded the Crown butt out altogether, Davis said. ‘‘I fully went out expecting the first person to stand up and stamp their foot and thump the table and say we want a separate Ma¯ ori Parliament, we want the Crown to back off, we’re sick of you doing things your way – you’ve marginalised us – and we want to do it for ourselves.’’
That did not happen once and in fact there was an overwhelming consensus from people that they wanted to engage with the Crown and be involved in decisions, Davis said. While he was happy with 1800 people attending the various hui and focus groups, ‘‘it would have been good for more people to have come and had their say’’.
One way of increasing awareness of the hui would have been allowing media to report on them and confusion remains as to why reporters were excluded from attending the hui apart from the powhiri at the start. Davis was unaware a note had been sent out ahead of every meeting saying media were not able to attend the bulk of the hui.
‘‘I was like: oh man nobody turned up, and [the media] isn’t interested in Ma¯ ori affairs.’’
It is unclear who in Davis’ office was responsible for telling media they were not welcome at the hui but he says he had no idea that directive was being sent out for three months.
So where to from here for Crown/Ma¯ ori relations?
Davis is meeting with representatives from all the various hui today who will work on codesigning a document that details how to measure and strengthen the relationship in the future.
From there the document will be shared with NZ First and the Greens before Davis takes a paper to Cabinet at the end of July.
‘‘This is the start of a new way of working. We’ve got to make sure we don’t make mistakes we’ve made in the past.’’
Davis cited the announcement of the Kermadec Sanctuary at the United Nations ahead of any consultation with Ma¯ ori, which meant the proposal had basically stalled.
‘‘That sort of thing we’ve just got to stop.’’ Davis says he is only nine months into a future relationship between the Crown and Ma¯ ori and is well aware it will take time to ‘‘lay out the foundations’’.
But in the future Davis hopes to see a partnership between Ma¯ori and all the various government agencies, which doesn’t require him needing to be the go-between.
A start will be acknowledging the 7000 post-Treaty settlement commitments made by the Crown that nobody has been monitoring.
If that can be achieved, Davis says, Ma¯ori will start to feel like ‘‘fully contributing members of society’’. ‘‘We just want to be part of New Zealand, but still be Ma¯ ori.’’
‘‘We’ve got to make sure we don’t make mistakes we’ve made in the past.’’ Crown/Ma¯ ori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis