Ae Marika! 16 Sept 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by admin in Ae Marika

The review of the Maori Community Development Act ends this week. It began a couple of weeks ago at Te Paatu, home marae to Sir Graham Latimer, long-time chairman of the New Zealand Maori Council which operates under the auspices of the Act.

The Act is 50 years old and could do with updating, but the real reason for the review is that the government wants to get rid of the New Zealand Maori Council.

The Council was originally expected to simply advocate for Maori interests and provide advice to the government of the day, but has taken its role more seriously than was originally intended. In fact, the Council has been at the forefront of the battle for the recognition of Maori rights under the Treaty of Waitangi, and it’s worth noting what that fight involved and what was achieved.

In 1985 the Council claimed that Te Reo Maori was a taonga under the Treaty that government was obliged to protect. The Waitangi Tribunal found in favour of the Council and recommended a number of legislative and policy remedies. In 1987 Māori was made an official language of New Zealand under the Māori LANGUAGE Act.

In 1986 the Council went to court to stop government from transferring assets to State Owned Enterprises. Through the Waitangi Tribunal, the Council got the government to set up LAND banks to hold many of those assets for return to iwi.

In 1987 the Council, along with Ngai Tahu, Muriwhenua and Tainui won a court action stopping the allocation of FISHING quota until Māori commercial fishing rights had been clarified. By 1992, the Crown and Maori had reached a settlement which led to the allocation of fishing quota to iwi.

In 1989 Council took the government to court to stop the sale of state forests. From that the Council negotiated the set-up of the Crown FORESTRY Rental Trust through which $160 million has been transferred to claimants (a further $385 million is held in securities).

In 1993, the Council took legal action over the allocation of radio frequencies and was able to negotiate the establishment of Te Mangai Paho to fund Maori language programming. Today there are 21 MAORI RADIO stations spread throughout the country. The Council also forced the Crown to honour its promise to set up MAORI TELEVISION. Over the past 11 years, almost $500 million has been invested in Maori broadcasting through Te Mangai Paho.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, the Council has actions pending against the Crown right now on issues including WATER, SPECTRUM, and the independence of the MAORI WARDENS.

So you can see how the government would be very, very happy to see the Council either shut down or seriously hamstrung.

Now I’m not the greatest fan of the Council. I think they could have taken a stronger line on taking control of the assets rather than simply agreeing to cash and quota settlements, but they were the ones who took the Crown to court over the fundamental treaty issues of lands, forests, fisheries, waters and other taonga. And they have also shown that they are the only entity with the capability and the firepower to challenge the Crown on major issues when others either wouldn’t or couldn’t.

Does the Council still have a role to play in today’s world? Yes.

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz.