Treaty Principles

Have you ever rung a Government department that has advertised a job, saying it is committed to "the principles of the Treaty of Waitiangi" and asked what these principles are?

You get silence. Most haven't a clue. Even Prime Minister Helen Clark was unable to say what the principles were when asked in Parliament

this jobs site notes that The Treaty of Waitangi has implications for specific service delivery and Maori employment obligations for all Public Service departments.

But getting a public servant to tell you what these implications are is nigh on impossible.

Treaty Principles - kawanatanga, rangitiritanga, equality, cooperation and redress, for those employing public servants who read this, were drawn up in 1989 - the year before Winston Peters became Minister of Maori Affairs. They were drawn up by Crown officials so that the Government had some guidelines upon which to act when dealing with treaty issues. The principles are not part of the treaty. Some say it was the Governments attempt to rewrite the Treaty.

So it is interesting that Peters has his Treaty Principles Deletion Bill picked from the ballot which will remove all references to treaty principles from legislation. Peters earlier promised to “end the Treaty industry by lunchtime, so to speak”, so he has delivered with the bill.

Although there is a lot of vagueness around these principles, I think they are important. If this bill goes through, what will guide policy? The Treaty of Waitangi may be a founding document, but it is not a constitution.