Co-governance works and it’s here to stay
Ted Greensmith-West is an Auckland-based lawyer specialising in the Treaty of Waitangi and public policy. He has previously been a member of the Labour Party and worked for Parliamentary Services in a Labour MP’s office while Labour was in Opposition.
OPINION: This year was the first year of celebrations at Ra¯tana since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic, and it will be remembered as one of the most momentous.
Christopher Luxon cast a shadow over the proceedings by rallying against co-governance.
Quite rightly, this caused a stir – it left a bad taste in people’s mouths, including my own.
Effectively, Luxon was a manuhiri who used the celebration of one of the most important and historic figures in Ma¯oridom to effectively signal that if elected prime minister, his government would forgo the decades of work of previous governments (both National and Labour) in the practice of sharing power between Ma¯ori and the Crown.
Since then, commentators have pointed to a vacuum of information about co-governance which Labour has been hesitant to fill, and in its place, misinformation and fear have dominated discussion on the issue.
So what is co-governance exactly? I’ve formed my perspective on the issue after working in the Tiriti space for most of my professional life.
Despite what Luxon and others would lead us to believe, co-governance is far less controversial than it seems.
Co-governance effectively means power sharing, and it is a fundamental right under te Tiriti.
In a nutshell, the principles of tino rangatiratanga and partnership mandate the Crown to allow Ma¯ori the ability to have authority over issues which impact them and require both Ma¯ori and the Crown to work together to resolve problems facing all New Zealanders.
These rights and principles under te Tiriti form the cornerstone of our constitution – they are the bedrock of our country and what it was founded on.
These are not matters that Luxon can simply opt out of: they are inalienable rights guaranteed by our founding document – and are particularly guaranteed to Ma¯ori, who for most of our history, have been denied these rights by a Crown that has sought to dominate every aspect of their lives.
The nature of partnership is inherently flexible and can take many different forms.
In the provision of public services, we have seen significantly positive outcomes where Ma¯ori have worked in partnership with the Crown to improve outcomes for communities. I’ve seen this with my own eyes.
One of the honours of my professional life was representing claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal’s Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry.
Despite the sometimes harrowing nature of the inquiry, the tribunal made efforts to highlight areas of success where kaupapa Ma¯ori organisations successfully partnered with the Crown to reduce the disproportionate number of tamariki Ma¯ori taken into state care every year.
One particular example was Waitomo Papaka¯inga led by Katie Murray in the Far North which has, since its inception, prevented hundreds of tamariki Ma¯ori from entering the state care system and instead found them happier homes among wha¯nau and hapu¯.
The organisation and its allies have formed enduring relationships with state agencies and iwi/hapu¯ groups across the region, and this has had a hugely beneficial impact on tamariki and wha¯nau.
They are just one example of many kaupapa Ma¯ori organisations across the country who tirelessly work every day in partnership with the Crown to improve outcomes for their communities.
If Christopher Luxon were to make good on his policy of shutting down co-governance structures in public services, he would effectively be preventing these groups from doing the vital mahi that is needed to improve outcomes for Ma¯ori.
Without Ma¯ori in equal partnership, hand in hand with the Crown, history has shown us that we cannot provide adequate social services for all our people.
The irony of Luxon’s comments at Ra¯tana last month is the fact that under the last National government headed by John Key and Bill English, cogovernance in public services was championed through comprehensive Treaty settlements and programmes like Wha¯nau Ora.
Experts, the Waitangi Tribunal and Ma¯ori themselves have been saying for decades that the key to reducing inequality for Ma¯ori is genuine partnership between the Crown and Ma¯ori in the provision of public services.
It’s time for National to put down the culture war drum and campaign on tangible solutions for our communities.
This is an abridged version of a column that ran on Stuff.co.nz.