Treaty/grievance industry, grievance mode, gravy train, divisive, never-ending, Treatyism, the past is the past, undermine democracy; and any calls to dispense with the Treaty.

 

• ‘Treaty of Waitangi claims are continuing to delay the sale of Masterton’s abandoned schools’ (Dominion Post, 19 Feb, 2008).

• ‘…when the orchestrated grievance display that is Waitangi Day passes…’ (Manawatu Standard editorial, 7 Feb, 2007)

Assumptions

• Pākehā are entitled to determine the worth and meaning of the Treaty on their own.

• Any decision or process that treats the views of Māori and non-Māori equally is undemocratic.

• A treaty signed more than 170 years ago is no longer relevant.

 

• Undermines any consideration of the Treaty in debates or conflicts between Māori and Pākehā

• Ensures that Pākehā institutions such as the police, courts and Parliament settle issues, which will usually benefit Pākehā at the expense of Māori.

 

• Explain the Crown’s breaches of te Tiriti at issue.

• Te Tiriti is a contract enabling Pākehā to live justly in Aotearoa, by according Māori rights as tangata whenua

• Te Tiriti was an agreement between two sovereign peoples, with Māori having an equal say in any interpretation

• Te Tiriti should be a foundation for a new constitution enabling a just, Treaty-based future.

• The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 but current laws banning arbitrary arrest and justice for sale are still based on it.

• The inadequacies of media reporting about the Treaty undermine the ability of Pākehā and other non-Māori to consider their Tiriti obligations.

• Pākehā anxiety about their place in Aotearoa will be resolved only through honouring the Tiriti and acknowledging Māori as tangata whenua.

• For the government to determine on its own how claims about Treaty breaches will be settled is unjust - the process should be agreed by both parties.

 

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