NZ signs oceans biodiversity treaty, but look at what kaimoana kerfuffle has done for the Kermadec sanctuary proposal
The statements which ministers have not posted are the most newsworthy aspect of the latest news on the government’s official website.
Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has not released a statement to say he welcomes (or does not welcome) a report titled He piki tūranga, he piki kōtuku – The future for local government.
And Health Minister Ayesha Verrall has not released a statement on the innocent-sounding but highly controversial “equity adjustor”, which gives preference to Maori and Pacific patients in determining priorities for surgery.
The report on the future of local government says:
The Panel believes local government is a Tiriti partner and our report recommends changes to recognise and enable a more authentic partnership and relationship…
This inevitably will have constitutional and governance consequences.
The “equity adjustor” was the subject of press statements from the National Party and the ACT Party
Race Has No Place In Surgical Decisions
Race has no place in surgical priorities and the Government should immediately drop ethnicity as one of the criteria surgeons have been told to use to rank patients, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.
Race-based Waitlists Indefensible
“Using ethnicity to prioritise healthcare waitlists is lazy and divisive and it’s not who we are as a country”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
That should give Point of Order readers a fair idea of what’s at issue in an initiative introduced (without fanfare) back in February.
Something on the government’s official website would be appreciated to sort out some contradictions.
But we found nothing unambivalent on what will or should happen to the equity adjustor when we checked the government’s official website. At time of writing, posts over the past 24 hours have dealt only with “the immigration imbalance”, a treaty settlement, and a new global treaty to protect and restore high seas biodiversity.
The third of those statements is worth further examination.
Nanaia Mahuta said negotiations on the treaty were substantively concluded in March after two decades of talks at the UN, and it was formally adopted this morning by a consensus of states.
She noted that nearly two-thirds of the ocean lies outside any country’s national jurisdiction or control. This area contains an exceptional level of biodiversity that is increasingly under pressure from human activity and the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.
The new agreement will help to protect biodiversity in the high seas by enabling the international community to establish marine protected areas, and by setting clear procedures for assessing the environmental impacts of activities.
She said:
“The adoption of this treaty is a significant step in our collective effort to safeguard our ocean for future generations.
“Our connection to the ocean is a fundamental part of what makes us New Zealanders, as is the seriousness with which we take our kaitiaki [guardianship] responsibilities. This treaty reflects those values on a global scale.”
But whoa there.
We recall a recent RNZ news item headed Iwi reject government’s latest Kermadec sanctuary proposal
The accompanying report told us something fascinating about guardianship responsibilities.
The government appears to have been blindsided by iwi leaders’ decision to reject its latest proposal to establish the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.
The report recalled that former prime minister Sir John Key announced the sanctuary in 2015,
… but pushback from iwi and political parties has stalled progress since.
The sanctuary covers a 620,000 square kilometre area in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone around the Kermadec Islands, northeast of the North Island.
The latest government proposal included renaming the area to Ngā Whatu-a-Māui Ocean Sanctuary, and suggested a review into the sanctuary be conducted every 20 years.
But:
Iwi organisations on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to reject that proposal, at a meeting hosted by Te Ohu Kaimoana, the guardian of Māori fishing interests. Forty-two voted against, one in support and two abstained.
The RNZ report gave us a hint at the role iwi leaders would like to play in local government.
Te Ohu Kaimoana chairperson Rangimarie Hunia said an indigenous-led approach is the only way forward.
“If we continue conversations under this current framework imposed upon us by the Crown, we do not believe this creates the opportunity for a meaningful outcome for iwi or the Crown.
“There must be a conversation held that is based upon mana, tikanga and kawa before we can progress, and that conversation must be led by iwi.”
Iwi yesterday said there was an opportunity for them to be able to design and lead on a solution to the health and wellbeing of the marine environment, Hunia said.
“We weren’t given that opportunity with the sanctuary.”
Hunia said it was critical that the rights and interests given to iwi as a result of the fisheries settlement were protected.
“There were two pieces yesterday that iwi were focused on: one let’s design an indigenous approach, secondly let’s protect the rights and interests provided for in the fisheries settlement, that takes with us 58 tribes across the country.”
Environment Minister David Parker said he was “very disappointed” by that decision.
He perhaps was bewildered, too because he said:
“Only recently, it had been indicated to us that the parties were close to agreement on the sanctuary.”
The government had worked “closely and carefully” with Te Ohu Kai Moana and northern iwi representatives to establish the sanctuary since 2017, Parker said.
“By contrast, the previous National government failed to engage properly with Māori interests before it introduced the Kermadec sanctuary bill in 2016. This government tried hard, and in good faith, to rectify that initial mistake and seek agreement with the interested parties.
It was prepared to spend a lot of public money on an agreement, too, because Parker further said:
“The government had been clear that it was prepared to consider compensation for fishing rights that would have been suspended by the sanctuary. The cost of that would have been relatively modest, given that little commercial fishing takes place in the sanctuary area.
“Iwi interests indicated they did not want such compensation, but the draft supplementary order paper for the bill would have nonetheless reversed National’s earlier decision to stop iwi seeking compensation through the courts.”
The minister said he wanted to understand why the “unexpected decision” was made before deciding how to proceed.
Here’s hoping he finds out and shares it with us.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
The report on the future of local government says:
The Panel believes local government is a Tiriti partner and our report recommends changes to recognise and enable a more authentic partnership and relationship…
This inevitably will have constitutional and governance consequences.
The “equity adjustor” was the subject of press statements from the National Party and the ACT Party
Race Has No Place In Surgical Decisions
Race has no place in surgical priorities and the Government should immediately drop ethnicity as one of the criteria surgeons have been told to use to rank patients, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.
Race-based Waitlists Indefensible
“Using ethnicity to prioritise healthcare waitlists is lazy and divisive and it’s not who we are as a country”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
That should give Point of Order readers a fair idea of what’s at issue in an initiative introduced (without fanfare) back in February.
Something on the government’s official website would be appreciated to sort out some contradictions.
- The PM is reported to have said he doesn’t want to replace one form of discrimination in the clogged-up hospital system with another; but
- Verrall signalled the Government’s intention to roll out the adjustor scores nationwide in her reply to a written Parliamentary question from National’s health spokesman Shane Reti. She said: “I am advised that a wait list prioritisation tool has been developed and is currently being implemented across the Northern Region before a national roll out.”
But we found nothing unambivalent on what will or should happen to the equity adjustor when we checked the government’s official website. At time of writing, posts over the past 24 hours have dealt only with “the immigration imbalance”, a treaty settlement, and a new global treaty to protect and restore high seas biodiversity.
Latest from the Beehive
The Government is making changes to the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) as part of the immigration rebalance, to help businesses attract workers to fill skill shortages, Minister of Immigration Michael Wood announced.
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Ngāti Hei to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has today welcomed the adoption of a new global treaty to protect and restore high seas biodiversity.
The third of those statements is worth further examination.
Nanaia Mahuta said negotiations on the treaty were substantively concluded in March after two decades of talks at the UN, and it was formally adopted this morning by a consensus of states.
She noted that nearly two-thirds of the ocean lies outside any country’s national jurisdiction or control. This area contains an exceptional level of biodiversity that is increasingly under pressure from human activity and the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.
The new agreement will help to protect biodiversity in the high seas by enabling the international community to establish marine protected areas, and by setting clear procedures for assessing the environmental impacts of activities.
She said:
“The adoption of this treaty is a significant step in our collective effort to safeguard our ocean for future generations.
“Our connection to the ocean is a fundamental part of what makes us New Zealanders, as is the seriousness with which we take our kaitiaki [guardianship] responsibilities. This treaty reflects those values on a global scale.”
But whoa there.
We recall a recent RNZ news item headed Iwi reject government’s latest Kermadec sanctuary proposal
The accompanying report told us something fascinating about guardianship responsibilities.
The government appears to have been blindsided by iwi leaders’ decision to reject its latest proposal to establish the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.
The report recalled that former prime minister Sir John Key announced the sanctuary in 2015,
… but pushback from iwi and political parties has stalled progress since.
The sanctuary covers a 620,000 square kilometre area in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone around the Kermadec Islands, northeast of the North Island.
The latest government proposal included renaming the area to Ngā Whatu-a-Māui Ocean Sanctuary, and suggested a review into the sanctuary be conducted every 20 years.
But:
Iwi organisations on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to reject that proposal, at a meeting hosted by Te Ohu Kaimoana, the guardian of Māori fishing interests. Forty-two voted against, one in support and two abstained.
The RNZ report gave us a hint at the role iwi leaders would like to play in local government.
Te Ohu Kaimoana chairperson Rangimarie Hunia said an indigenous-led approach is the only way forward.
“If we continue conversations under this current framework imposed upon us by the Crown, we do not believe this creates the opportunity for a meaningful outcome for iwi or the Crown.
“There must be a conversation held that is based upon mana, tikanga and kawa before we can progress, and that conversation must be led by iwi.”
Iwi yesterday said there was an opportunity for them to be able to design and lead on a solution to the health and wellbeing of the marine environment, Hunia said.
“We weren’t given that opportunity with the sanctuary.”
Hunia said it was critical that the rights and interests given to iwi as a result of the fisheries settlement were protected.
“There were two pieces yesterday that iwi were focused on: one let’s design an indigenous approach, secondly let’s protect the rights and interests provided for in the fisheries settlement, that takes with us 58 tribes across the country.”
Environment Minister David Parker said he was “very disappointed” by that decision.
He perhaps was bewildered, too because he said:
“Only recently, it had been indicated to us that the parties were close to agreement on the sanctuary.”
The government had worked “closely and carefully” with Te Ohu Kai Moana and northern iwi representatives to establish the sanctuary since 2017, Parker said.
“By contrast, the previous National government failed to engage properly with Māori interests before it introduced the Kermadec sanctuary bill in 2016. This government tried hard, and in good faith, to rectify that initial mistake and seek agreement with the interested parties.
It was prepared to spend a lot of public money on an agreement, too, because Parker further said:
“The government had been clear that it was prepared to consider compensation for fishing rights that would have been suspended by the sanctuary. The cost of that would have been relatively modest, given that little commercial fishing takes place in the sanctuary area.
“Iwi interests indicated they did not want such compensation, but the draft supplementary order paper for the bill would have nonetheless reversed National’s earlier decision to stop iwi seeking compensation through the courts.”
The minister said he wanted to understand why the “unexpected decision” was made before deciding how to proceed.
Here’s hoping he finds out and shares it with us.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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