Her article states that the Bill has been condemned for claiming falsely that it privileges Māori. Further, as the Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair, she argues that the Bill undermines te Tiriti principles and Māori health. Third - she asserts that the bill could exacerbate health disparities and increase racist rhetoric against Māori, thus impacting on their wellbeing.
Of course, we do hear the view that the Treaty of Waitangi privileges Māori and some activists believe that the Treaty does indeed grant additional rights to Māori because they are indigenous (Ngarewa-Packer, 2024). Further, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer asserts that the Bill and surrounding discourses are in reality about the “Atlas agenda” (Atlas Network, 2024).
However, the Bill itself does not suggest that any particular ethnic or cultural group has been privileged. The Bill will not pass into law, but it is not clear how the Bill, if it were to be made law, would undermine te Tiriti principles as articulated in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act (Parliamentary Counsel Office, 2022).
The Bill seems designed to clarify the status of the Treaty and, in promoting equality for every person, it is not evident as to how and why it could exacerbate disparities in health, increase rhetoric against any group or impact on the wellbeing of any community.
The Critical Text of the Bill
Within the Bill we see the three Principles stated very clearly:
1. The Government of New Zealand has full power to govern, and Parliament has full power to make laws. They do so in the best interests of everyone, and in accordance with the rule of law and the maintenance of a free and democratic society.
2. The Crown recognises the rights that hapū and iwi had when they signed the Treaty/te Tiriti. The Crown will respect and protect those rights. Those rights differ from the rights everyone has a reasonable expectation to enjoy only when they are specified in Treaty settlements.
3. Everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination. Everyone is entitled to the equal enjoyment of the same fundamental human rights without discrimination.
Further, in the section under the heading “Application”, it is stated that the Bill does not alter or amend the text of the Treaty/te Tiriti itself and does not apply to the interpretation of a Treaty Settlement Act.
Today, we see differences across communities in health and socioeconomic outcomes that have yet to be addressed successfully. However, the Principles of the Bill apply equally to every citizen and, as such, appear to offer a positive way forward for New Zealand. Surely, the question that confronts us in the present is not what happened many generations ago, but how we can make for a harmonious and prosperous society for every New Zealander into the future.
Reactions to Professor Morenga’s Article
Professor Te Morenga says:
Of all the lies wrapped up in this bill, the one that is truly breathtaking in its falsity is that the Treaty privileges Māori.
Again, while some people within each and every ethnic and cultural group harbour prejudice towards others and sometimes claim that others are advantaged unfairly, the Bill itself makes no claim that any group is privileged under the Treaty.
Professor Te Morenga says that she advocates for policies and actions to reduce health harms from alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products and unhealthy food. She refers to these products as the “commercial determinants of health”. Professor Te Morenga’s advocacy is to be commended.
These harmful products saturate our environments and increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, heart attacks, mental illness - and early death.
Despite having no alcohol, tobacco or mass-produced unhealthy food prior to European settlement, Māori were, and are, disproportionately impacted by these harmful industries. They also play a significant role in the seven-year gap in life expectancy between Māori and non-Māori.
Undoubtedly, Professor Te Morenga works in good faith to improve the health and wellbeing of Māori but we note that our Pacific people have worse indices of health and wellbeing and socioeconomics than any other ethnic or cultural group in New Zealand (Lillis, 2023).
On average, Pacific people live six fewer years than non-Māori/non-Pacific, and this gap has widened over the last 20 years. Thus, the life expectancy of Pacific people is not greatly different to that of Māori.
Compared with children from other ethnic groups, Pacific children experience higher incidence of medical conditions, including asthma, dental problems and ear and skin infections. The Health Quality & Safety Commission Report (2021) reminds us that such conditions are associated with the social determinants of health, including poverty and overcrowding.
Pacific people experience greater incidence of long-term conditions, including diabetes, gout, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, cancer and asthma. The Health Quality & Safety Commission Report states that long-term conditions are the most important contributors to the difference in life expectancy between Pacific people and non-Māori/non-Pacific.
Young Pacific adults experience twice the prevalence of diabetes than Māori, and five times the rate of European and other ethnicities.
In 2018 Pacific people ranked worst of all ethnicities within every category of deprivation in material standard of living (Statistics New Zealand, 2019).
The Health Quality & Safety Commission report states that most deaths in European populations occur after age 65 years, but that 44% of deaths within Pacific populations occur among those under 65 years.
The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act (Parliamentary Counsel Office, 2022) mentions the word “Māori” a total of 473 times. Of these mentions, 133 relate to disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, leaving a total of 340 active mentions. By comparison, the word “Pacific” is mentioned only 18 times (barely 5% of the mentions of “Māori”) and the Act includes no mentions of the words “Asian”, “European” or “Pakeha”. Recognising the very poor health of Pacific in New Zealand, surely Pacific people deserve more than 5% of the mentions of Māori. Do other populations truly deserve no mentions at all?
Inter-Generational Effects
Professor Te Morenga says:
Anyone with only a rudimentary knowledge of New Zealand history can draw a direct line between the many breaches of Te Tiriti by the Crown and the health status of Māori.
It seems probable that breaches did have an enduring negative impact, but did breaches of the treaty of Waitangi lead directly to today’s lifestyle choices and excessive consumption of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine and unhealthy food within particular communities? Did those same breaches also give rise to the present poor health indices of Pacific people?
A report by the Human Rights Commission on racism experienced by tangata whenua found the “undermining of rangatiratanga [self determination], dispossession of land, suppression of te reo Māori, and dismantling of iwi, hapū and whānau has had a devastating cumulative inter-generational impact on the health and wellbeing of Māori”.
Undoubtedly, racism has had a negative inter-generational effect within many nations but colonisation has brought many positives, including rule of law, education, improved public health, enhanced standard of living and ratification of property rights. In New Zealand, colonisation has indeed enabled a substantial increase in life expectancy for everyone since 1840.
Instead of receiving all the rights and privileges of British citizens (including equal access to health care), the Crown went to war against Māori to obtain control of our lands and resources. Successive settler governments created laws to wrest ever more land and resources from us, and to erase our culture and self-worth in their push for assimilation.
Many land sales to settlers were documented, some of them fair and others not. Confiscation of land did occur, often as punishment for warfare, and perhaps less than 5% of land was seized in this way, but to what extent did the Crown go to war against anyone? Did successive settler governments create laws in order to erase culture and self-worth?
In principle Māori have always had equal rights and access to health care, but the picture has been obscured by socio-economic, lifestyle and personal health issues, together with geographic effects that have affected not only Māori.
In relation to te Tiriti principles, developed over the past 50 years by Waitangi Tribunal reports, Professor Morenga says:
The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act, governing the Ministry of Health, includes specific requirements to give effect to te Tiriti principles including:
Tino Rangatiratanga (the ability of Māori to design and deliver health services that best meet their needs); equity, options and active protection (ensuring Māori have access to services in proportion to their health needs); partnership (co-design of health services and policy).
There is a view that, once public money had been invested in setting up the Māori Health Authority, there was now a case for allowing it to proceed in order to identify any beneficial impact on Māori health. But, if New Zealand ever goes down that path again, should not Pacific people and others also have the same mandate to design and deliver health services that best meet their needs?
Replacing these principles with those of the Act Party would erase the history and founding document of this country and remove recognition of Māori as tangata whenua, along with the specific responsibilities of the Government in relation to them.
How would the principles outlined in the Bill erase the history and founding document of this country or remove recognition of any group?
The Unique Character of Every Community
With the eradication of the unique position of Māori as the first nations people of Aotearoa, the proposed bill would nullify the framework best placed to address the continuing disproportionate health harms for Māori - the established te Tiriti principles.
How would the Bill eradicate the unique position of any group in New Zealand? Again - Pacific health is the worst among all ethnic groups.
The Waitangi Tribunal found the Treaty Principles in the bill “bear no resemblance to the text or meaning of te Tiriti”, “advance the discredited agenda of assimilation” and are “designed to end the distinct status of Māori as the indigenous people of this country”.
All of these assertions are highly questionable. On what basis does the Bill bear no resemblance to the Treaty? On reading both together, it seems to bear a very close resemblance. Further, in what way is the Bill designed to end the distinct status of any group in this country?
The bill’s tabling in Parliament is a powerful platform for false, harmful ideas and rhetoric.
Some of the race-based rhetoric coming from various sides over the last few years has been very divisive, and community relations and trust have been hurt significantly. New Zealand must find a way to break the current cycle.
Several commentators have described the Bill as divisive but the Bill argues for equal rights before the law for every citizen. However, various bigots could use debate surrounding the Bill to support their rhetoric, but bigotry, self-interest and prejudice are evident within small numbers of every community. In the end, the intent of the Bill is to stimulate a constructive discussion on New Zealand’s constitutional future and to create a more equitable and just nation.
Of course, achieving an equitable and just society demands shared recognition of the needs and rights of others, especially of those who experience significant challenges, including Māori and Pacific people. In addition, it demands a common vision and commitment to a better future for everyone.
I can only conclude the Treaty Principles Bill is a deliberate strategy to throttle our voice, undermine our te Tiriti rights and cause us harm - an unmitigated tragedy.
This statement is presented without evidence and is unhelpful at a time in our history when we need constructive and respectful exchange of views.
A Personal View on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill
New Zealand needs clarification on the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi in the twenty-first century and beyond. Today, indeed we see ongoing disparities in health and wellbeing, education and socioeconomics across various communities, but the causes of these disparities are complex. For example, socioeconomics underlies differential outcomes in education and health, though are not the exclusive causes. We must address those causes as they apply to all communities, but on the basis of need rather than ancestry. Surely, this is particularly important in health, where markers other than purely ethnic-based indices are necessary if we are to identify individuals, families and communities in need (Lillis,2024a).
Fully 25% of our total population are non-Māori and non-European. Each and every one of them deserves equal rights and obligations to those of everyone else. However, over the last few years, these particular New Zealanders figure in our national conversations only rarely. Further, attempts to politicise science and all levels of education are affecting both of these critically important domains in ways that stand to degrade both.
Under the previous government, our early childhood, primary and secondary curricula were now to operate in accordance with a particular ideology relating to the Treaty, irrespective of the background, ethnicity, country of origin or religion of our school children or of the views of parents, educators or administrators. Only one form of traditional knowledge was to be positioned as central to each and every academic subject and content that had no scientific basis was to be delivered in science class. Are not our children and our nation’s schools too critically important to be treated in this cavalier manner?
Science and other categories of research were to be resourced partly on the basis of ancestry, and our universities continue to undergo enforced indigenisation. Degree courses that espouse various ideologies are to be made compulsory at a time when sciences programmes are being cut. Our journals (Lillis, 2024b) and our media (Lillis, 2024c) publish scientific falsehoods sometimes, but refuse to print the science-based response. Within certain universities we have seen efforts to re-define both research and the notion of excellence in research in order to include various ideologies and other ways of knowing.
Surely, a bicultural configuration for any nation runs counter to the fundamental idea of a liberal democracy. Within a multicultural nation, any partnership between only two ethnic groups will require distorted orientations of both policy, political and legislative processes and will incur enduring administrative and economic costs.
The Principles of the Bill are Fair
We see ongoing disparities across communities and much work is yet to be done if we are to address those disparities. We could start by ensuring equality of opportunity, though surely we are already a very long way down that path, and we could continue by establishing equality for everyone before the law. Are such objectives not the main purpose of the Bill?
The principles outlined in the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are fair and exactly what we need in order to create a just society. It is indeed critical to establish that Government has full power to govern and that Parliament has full power to make laws.
That the Crown recognises the rights of hapū and iwi when they signed the Treaty/te Tiriti is also necessary and just, though this particular principle requires extensive debate and clarification. It is not a straightforward discourse when indeed we have residual disparities, but those disparities affect diverse communities.
Finally, that every person is equal before the law and is entitled to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination is precisely what we expect of a progressive society of the twenty-first century.
Professor Te Morenga’s opinion piece is, presumably, intended to protect the rights of the first people to settle in New Zealand. Although undoubtedly having positive intent, she makes polemical and sweeping claims that are not supported by evidence. Because such claims tend to re-ignite bad feeling, they diminish the value of what could have been a constructive contribution to an ongoing discussion that is critical to our country’s future.
Professor Morenga is incensed and distressed to see the Treaty Principles Bill tabled in Parliament but is not the Bill, or at least the thinking within it, a necessary part of the national conversation on the future of this country? It is regrettable that our media has adopted a generally negative attitude to the Bill, publishes opinions that attack the Bill but tends not to publish articles that support it. Surely, from respectful exchange of views, even views that seem diametrically opposed, we may nevertheless discover much common ground and find a way to work together for the common good.
A New Zealand under the Bill, or a successor of it, could become a truly egalitarian society, characterised by full equality of opportunity and whose public services are essentially multicultural and provide interventions on the basis of need. In such a society, disparities reflect only personal choice and innate differences in orientation and ambition that exist between individuals and communities.
Here, Māori indeed have a treasured place as the first inhabitants of these islands.
Te Reo is preserved and made available to all who wish to learn or adopt it, and Māori are indeed recognised as Tangata Whenua. Māori are valued for their very significant contributions to the culture and character of the nation and enjoy a status as “first among equals”. Matauranga Māori is treasured for its cultural and historic value and for any science-based contributions that it offers, provided that those contributions have been tested through established methods.
Otherwise, all citizens, irrespective of background, orientation, religion, culture or country of origin, enjoy precisely the same rights and are subject to exactly the same obligations.
The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill is intended to build consensus about the Treaty and New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. If it, or some subsequent version of it, were finally to become law, we would see greater legitimacy and social cohesion. It deserves our full support.
Dr David Lillis trained in physics and mathematics at Victoria University and Curtin University in Perth, working as a teacher, researcher, statistician and lecturer for most of his career. He has published many articles and scientific papers, as well as a book on graphing and statistics.
References
Atlas (2024). Together, We Can Strengthen The Worldwide Freedom Movement
https://www.atlasnetwork.org/
Health Quality & Safety Commission (2021). Bula Sautu – A window on quality 2021: Pacific health in the year of COVID-19. Wellington: Health Quality & Safety Commission.
Lillis, David (2023). Our Prioritised Health System and Pacific People
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2023/01/david-lillis-our-prioritised-health.html
Lillis, David (2024a). Ethnicity and Public Health
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/10/david-lillis-ethnicity-and-public-health.html
Lillis, David (2024b). Holding Our Journals to Account
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/11/david-lillis-holding-our-journals-to.html
Lillis, David (2024c). Science and the New Zealand Media
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/09/david-lillis-science-and-new-zealand.html
Ngarewa-Packer (2024). Q+A with Jack Tame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkh8b-oSjhY&ab_channel=Q%2BAwithJackTame
Parliamentary Counsel Office (2022). The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act (2022)
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2022/0030/latest/versions.aspx
Parliamentary Counsel Office (2024). Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0094/latest/whole.html#LMS1003438
Statistics New Zealand (2019). Wellbeing statistics: 2018 URL: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/wellbeing-statistics-2018
Te Morenga, Lisa (2024). Treaty Principles Bill is harmful and false. New Zealand Herald, 27 November 2024.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/maori-health-professor-condemns-treaty-principles-bill-for-harming-maori-rights/QEUAI432PNHNHIS72W5SWTFV74/
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