Professor Robert MacCulloch: Dame Whina Cooper's hīkoi was for change.....

Dame Whina Cooper's hīkoi was for change. This week's hīkoi was for keeping the status quo, the opposite of what the NZ Herald claims.

Today the NZ Herald's front page headline blared, "Hīkoi to Parliament: Tens of thousands energized for change after protest against Treaty Principles Bill .. The time for change is here". How Orwellian. This week's march was a march for the status quo. Its a protest against ACT's Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to define in legislation what are those principles.

The status quo is that the principles continue to be written by the judiciary ("developed" is the legal word). MP Willie Jackson declared in Parliament this week, "The principles are clear - they're clear. They're about partnership .. equity .. active protection .. redress - simple". Who wrote that list? Judges, lawyers. Our Kings Counsels declared in a letter those principles are now part of our Constitution & can't be changed. They state its "uncertain" even whether the full Parliament has rights to alter them.

Whatever your views about those principles, one thing is sure. This week's Hīkoi is to support the status quo - its not a Hīkoi to change anything. The incredible Dame Whina Cooper led a hīkoi whose admirable aim was change - to respect land and property rights that were not being respected. She is quoted as saying, 'the Treaty was signed so that we could all live as one nation in Aotearoa'. But this hīkoi has nothing to do with Dame Whina's hīkoi. Its about not letting anyone change a thing. Good luck to the nation with its political and economic status quo. Dame Whina was not happy with the status quo in her time.

Sources:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hikoi-to-parliament-tens-of-thousands-energised-for-change-after-protest-against-treaty-principles-bill/O2P5SGS2NJHSXC2BXCYTLTICAQ/
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/dame-whina-cooper

Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.