The TPPA and Waitangi Day
The Gisborne Herald | 12 February 2016
The TPPA and Waitangi Day
by Marama Fox, co-leader of the Maori Party
AT THE weekend I had the pleasure of competing with Te Rangiura o Wairarapa in the Kahungunu regional kapa haka competition in Hastings. It was awesome to have taiohi on stage representing the Wairarapa. Ka mau ke te wehi taiohi ma! Ki a koutou nga kaihaka o Te Rerenga Kotuku, ka tupou te mahunga ki a koutou.
On Tuesday, the House sat for the first time in 2016 and it was straight back into the hustle and bustle of Parliament. The Government kicked off the year with the Prime Minister’s statement where John Key stuck it to the Opposition, and then lauded the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its purported benefits.
The Prime Minister trumpeted this tremendous trade deal saying it would add $2.7 billion to the New Zealand economy.
He said this agreement would provide access to 11 new markets, some of which we previously had no access to, and it would only have positive effects for Maori.
Further, he said that concerns around the government meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi were unfounded and that both the Treaty and matauranga Maori (traditional intellectual property) were covered by an exception clause, allowing the government to meet its Treaty obligations.
That is where I have an issue though.
The exception clause of the TPP is reliant on the government of the day interpreting Treaty rights. Where a government’s interpretation of Treaty rights runs against both the legal interpretation of the Waitangi Tribunal and counter to the will of Maoridom, the government backs itself. Maoridom loses.
Successive governments have either ignored the recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal, or flouted the system by enacting special legislation. Successive governments have failed to uphold the mana of the Treaty.
That is why the Maori Party was created from the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed debacle. As Te Ururoa Flavell said on Tuesday, “we were born out of the ashes of te Tiriti not being honoured by the government of the day”.
Let me be clear, the Maori Party is not an anti-free trade party. We support some free trade and the Government’s efforts to reduce burdens facing our exporters. Agricultural businesses that export their products stand to benefit from this agreement.
However free trade cannot be at the expense of a government’s domestic obligations, for example, its obligation to fulfil Treaty rights of Maori.
Entering into an agreement with 11 other nations increases the likelihood that our government will not honour its obligations under the Treaty for fear of litigation, known as the “chilling effect”. Free trade needs to be fair as well.
Since its formation, the Maori Party has pushed for constitutional change that would ensure the New Zealand government fulfils its Treaty obligations. We have advocated for a greater role for Maori in foreign affairs, including greater involvement in treaty making. These are some of the commitments contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which the Government, led by Ta Pita Sharples, ratified in 2010. Further we advocate strengthening the status of the Treaty by establishing an Upper Treaty House.
While both the Prime Minister and I were absent from Waitangi this year, I chose to protest in the way our tipuna did — through haka and moteatea. It was an awesome way to spend a day with whanau out in the community and to hear their korero about their feelings on the TPP.
Most whanau, like our tipuna, don’t want another international agreement ceding our rangatiratanga. We’re still tidying up after the last one.
