Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Our vision is for a future where Tangata Whenua have realised tino rangatiratanga. We must honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by implementing it in law and in our constitutional frameworks.

Implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Despite work to provide redress for historical and contemporary breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Crown continues to breach its obligations to Māori and fails to protect Māori rights and interests, including tino rangatiratanga. The Crown should support Māori-led efforts to set out a roadmap for the full implementation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the realisation of tino rangatiratanga. This should include a process of potential constitutional transformation and political reform, such as that proposed in the Matike Mai report. This must also include the restoration of Te Tiriti clauses in legislation and continuing the work to insert new Te Tiriti clauses into relevant legislation.

Entrench the Māori electorates in law

Te Tiriti guarantees Māori the right to participate in Crown decision-making processes fairly. However, politicians often threaten to remove guaranteed Māori representation in Parliament. We propose that the provisions relating to Māori electorates be entrenched in law, just as the provisions relating to general electorates are.

Remove barriers to Māori representation in local government

Recent progress toward improving Māori representation in local government is under threat due to the Government’s reintroduction of an outdated double standard in the Local Government Act. We propose once again removing the discriminatory provision that enables referendums on the establishment of Māori wards, but not other wards.

Meet our international commitments

In 2010 Aotearoa made the decision to support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, since then the Government has not adopted a plan to give effect to UNDRIP. We propose that the Government, in partnership with Māori, develops an implementation plan for UNDRIP, to ensure we are meeting our international obligations.

Restore the Crown’s commitment to Te Reo Māori

The current Government has put a handbrake on the progress that had been made towards normalising Te Reo Māori through the public service. We propose restoring the Crown’s commitment to Te Reo Māori within the public service. We also propose significant new investment in Te Mātāwai in support of Māori-led revitalisation of Te Reo Māori within whānau, hapū, iwi and communities.

Elevate Te Reo Māori as a core curriculum subject

Aotearoa is largely a monolingual country, which limits our opportunities and fails to recognise Te Reo Māori as our indigenous language. We propose that the learning of Te Reo Māori be treated in a similar manner to English, with the Te Reo Māori syllabus made part of the core curriculum in primary and intermediate education. In support of this there must be a significant increase in resources to support teachers to upgrade their Te Reo Māori skills and for more Te Reo Māori speakers to train as teachers.