Treaty of Waitangi

Māori political systems are the oldest in Aotearoa – it’s time university politics courses reflected this

Retrieved on:

星期三, 二月 14, 2024

A place where Māori knowledge and leadership is embraced and where the universal benefits of te Tiriti o Waitangi are understood.

Key Points:

A place where Māori knowledge and leadership is embraced and where the universal benefits of te Tiriti o Waitangi are understood.
But it is clear from our current discourse on the Treaty that we are falling short of this goal.
But our recent research on political programmes at universities nationwide shows a lack of knowledge about how these systems have come to shape our country.

A gap in Treaty knowledge

Concerningly, 32% had not read any summary or version of the Treaty at all.
New Zealand politicians have also, at times, shown a poor understanding of the Treaty.
With the current debate over the treaty being fuelled by the Act Party’s Treaty Principles Bill, it is important to reflect on the role and responsibilities of universities as the critic, conscience and educators of society.

Politics students and the treaty

Our review showed there continues to be very little engagement by the discipline with Māori politics.
In fact, we found only around 1% of content taught in politics programmes appeared to be focused on Māori politics.
Although there is Māori political content taught in other parts of universities, largely through Māori Studies courses, it is concerning that students studying politics in New Zealand receive very little exposure to Māori politics.

Catching up with the rest of the country

And in 2021 the University of Canterbury created a treaty partnership office and committed to a “genuine partnership with mana whenua” and strengthening Māori leadership.
Students have come to expect a university education that upholds te Tiriti and actively promotes critical engagement with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).
It is time for politics programmes in New Zealand universities to recognise this to create a more collaborative and flourishing Aotearoa.

Maria Bargh receives funding from the 'Adaptive Governance and policy', Biological Heritage, National Science Challenge. Annie Te One does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Ruapehu has had a great ski season – but we need to reimagine the future of NZ’s iconic volcano

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星期三, 九月 27, 2023

As a former competitive snowboarder and instructor, and later a researcher of snow sports, I’ve been lucky to enjoy ski resorts around the world.

Key Points:

As a former competitive snowboarder and instructor, and later a researcher of snow sports, I’ve been lucky to enjoy ski resorts around the world.
But nothing compares to Mount Ruapehu on a good day.

Sustainability amid uncertainty

Ski resorts everywhere are facing an uncertain future, with climate change making seasons hard to predict.
After months of uncertainty and debate about its future, the government eventually offered a NZ$5 million lifeline for the 2023 winter season.

Cultural and geological significance

In fact, Tongariro has dual world heritage status for its important Māori cultural and spiritual associations, as well as its distinctive volcanic features.
And the ski fields are bound up in the unresolved Treaty of Waitangi claim to Tongariro National Park.
The scale of that claim, which involves cultural redress more than the return of land, puts the future of the ski fields in a much wider perspective.
Behind the human activity, of course, sits Ruapehu’s great geological significance.

The people’s mountain

Unlike many sports that separate people based on gender, ability and age, the slopes offer a space for shared experiences.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the clientele of ski resorts in New Zealand and around the world have been described as “white as the snow”.
In contrast to the often international staff of most ski resorts, RAL workers are predominantly local, with 53% identifying as New Zealand European and 16% Māori.

Reimagining Ruapehu

But its great cultural, social and geological significance makes Ruapehu a taonga (treasure) for all New Zealanders.
Personally, I hope to enjoy riding with my family on Ruapehu for many years to come, but the issue is bigger than that.

Sustainability is often an afterthought in space exploration – that needs to change as the industry grows

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星期二, 八月 22, 2023

In the aerospace strategy and national space policy, the government lays out how it intends to grow the domestic space sector by launching rockets and satellites and promoting Earth observation research.

Key Points:

In the aerospace strategy and national space policy, the government lays out how it intends to grow the domestic space sector by launching rockets and satellites and promoting Earth observation research.
The documents indicate the government’s general priorities in “protecting New Zealand’s national interests” and the “responsible use of space”.

Space debris indeed poses long-term threats to space activities and Earth’s environment.
But sustainability should have a wider focus than the pollution of Earth’s orbital space.

What does sustainability in space mean?

But factoring in sustainability is usually an afterthought as we continue to compromise environmental, societal and cultural wellbeing for the sake of economic development.
Without clarity, it is difficult to develop techniques and targets for sustainability or to be held accountable for missing them.

Balancing priorities with values

But this could help us avoid the mistakes that have led to the current climate and biodiversity crises.
The way economic priorities are balanced with values through a holistic relationship with the Earth, sea and sky is already embedded in many Indigenous cultures around the world, including Māori.

Earth, its atmosphere and beyond

Are we thinking about our future activities just on Earth, or further afield, including planetary exploration and asteroid mining?
Closer to Earth, commercial satellite technology is now a well established method to observe our planet from space.
It helps to monitor weather and climate effects and provides crucial telecommunication services.

Society and culture

It is now threatened by increasing light pollution from mega constellations of satellites and accumulating space debris.
It means ensuring Māori voices are welcomed and respected at the decision-making stage and on what we choose to do in space.
Broadening our view of sustainability could be the difference between oppression and recognition of Māori interests in the domestic space sector.
With credit to our co-authors in our research publication: Adam Morris, Nicholas Rattenbury, Cody Mankelow, Alice Gorman, Stevie Katavich-Barton.

NZ’s first national security strategy signals a 'turning point' and the end of old certainties

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星期五, 八月 4, 2023

It resulted in Germany’s first ever official national security strategy.

Key Points:

It resulted in Germany’s first ever official national security strategy.
While some countries, such as the United States and Britain, have had serious national security strategies in place for a long time, for others it takes a shock.
The suite of documents released today – including a first ever national security strategy – provides the answer.

A new security strategy

The national security strategy, Secure Together-Tō Tātou Korowai Manaaki, along with a new defence policy and strategy statement, rounds out this revised New Zealand worldview.
A soon-to-be-released threat assessment from the security intelligence agencies will complete the picture.
While the new assessments and strategic statements come from different state agencies, they nonetheless speak clearly and coherently about the risks to New Zealand’s security.

1. Geopolitical uniqueness

The first consistent theme concerns New Zealand’s uniqueness.
It is a liberal, multicultural democracy based on a bicultural relationship and te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi.

2. Times are changing

While no one challenge is expressly prioritised, there is a clear emphasis on geostrategic competition and the threats to a rules-based international system.
There are also unpredictable but significant risks – especially economic ones – from those tensions, even without a descent into military conflict.
Read more:
The most significant defence review in 40 years positions Australia for complex threats in a changing region

3. Partnerships matter

The most important relationship is with Australia, which is also rapidly upgrading its defence capabilities.
The newer multinational security partnerships – namely AUKUS and the “Quad” (US, India, Japan and Australia) – are mentioned.
Read more:
ANZUS at 70: Together for decades, US, Australia, New Zealand now face different challenges from China

4. Realism over China

But the new strategies and assessments repeatedly highlight the challenge of China.
While peaceful cooperation in areas of shared interest is deemed desirable, China is also recognised as being major driver of geopolitical change, especially in its willingness to be more assertive and willing to challenge existing international rules and norms.

Politics with Michelle Grattan: 'yes' campaigner Thomas Mayo and 'no' advocate Derryn Hinch on the Voice

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星期三, 八月 2, 2023

Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures, Volunteering, Glaucoma, Mayo, Treaty of Waitangi, Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Heart, History, Government, Human voice, Parliament, Name, Waitangi Treaty Monument, Water, Constitution, Indigenous Australians, Whaling, Management, Uluru

But the government wants to keep the debate strictly to the Voice, dodging questions about treaty where it can.

Key Points:

But the government wants to keep the debate strictly to the Voice, dodging questions about treaty where it can.
Mayo has been travelling extensively through central Queensland (viewed as one of the toughest states to garner a yes vote) hosting forums about the referendum.
I went from Maroochydore and Caloundra to a whole lot of towns, including Cherbourg, an Aboriginal community and Eidsvold, up to Mackay.
The experience was great, really positive - full crowds at each of the forums, some great questions and signing up a whole lot more volunteers.
There were people that were fully supportive and there was also a lot of people that were unsure.
So people that were leaning either yes or no, that came along to learn more.
We also had some people that were set in a position of saying no, but that was a great opportunity to have the discussion.
Hinch won’t be campaigning for a “no” vote, but he is making his views “very well known”.

History and myth: why the Treaty of Waitangi remains such a ‘bloody difficult subject’

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星期四, 五月 11, 2023

The Treaty of Waitangi, the influential historian Ruth Ross (1920-1982) remarked in 1972, is “a bloody difficult subject”.

Key Points:

The Treaty of Waitangi, the influential historian Ruth Ross (1920-1982) remarked in 1972, is “a bloody difficult subject”.
She should have known – she devoted most of her working life to trying to make sense of it, especially the text in te reo Māori.
Much of what has been taken for history about te Tiriti/the Treaty has been produced by those who have worked outside the universities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Foundational histories

It amounts to a moral and legal contract between the two parties, both of whom entered into it with a sound enough knowledge of most of its terms, even though it was written in two languages (te reo Māori and English).
But it also asserts that the suffering they consequently suffered can be repaired (and the legitimacy of the nation redeemed) by the New Zealand state undertaking to honour the principles of te Tiriti/the Treaty.

Founding myths

In using the word to describe foundational histories of te Tiriti/the Treaty I don’t exclude this connotation, but I have something more ambiguous in mind.
Most myths have a genuine link to a genuine past.
Likewise, there can be no doubt the Crown sought to make a treaty with the chiefs as though they were sovereign.

Text and meaning

Read more:
Australians should be wary of scare stories comparing the Voice with New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal

History and the law

The problematic nature of foundational history as a means of enabling New Zealanders to understand the historic agreement made in 1840 has become all the greater in recent decades.
Most professional historians who have researched and written about te Tiriti/the Treaty have ceded their interpretive authority to what has become the dominant idiom in the interpretation of the Treaty – the law – which has told a story about the Treaty that mirrors that narrated by foundational history.
But this is nonetheless a mistake, rather like reading a work of historical fiction as though it’s a scholarly history.

‘A bloody difficult subject’

They would also have told a very different story about the historic agreement.
As I discuss in one of the closing chapters of my book, there are several historians who have done just this.
Read more:
Learning to live with the 'messy, complicated history' of how Aotearoa New Zealand was colonised

Horizons past and present

Such histories could also provide – and indeed have provided – accounts that show how differently te Tiriti/the Treaty has been interpreted and understood over time, changing as the present has changed.
In performing such a task, historians can demonstrate, in the words of an American historian, “how the horizon of the present is not the horizon of all that is in the world”.
In this sense, good history is a comparative exercise, drawing attention to differences and similarities between the past and the present.