Roger Childs: The One Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti

He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one nation. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson to each chief after he had signed the Treaty of Waitangi

What it meant at the time

It was 6 February 1840 and the location was an elevated area above the Bay of Islands known as Waitangi. The British government’s envoy, Captain William Hobson, represented the British Crown, and he had called local tribal and settler leaders together to sign a treaty.

Graeme Spencer: Treaty Principles Bill Submission

I have adopted the approach that understanding our history is the solution to the Treaty Principles, there are in fact no principles, merely statements of intent, but if our politicians want to call them principles then who am I to quibble. The imprtant thing is that the "principles" as defined by ACT portray the intent of the Treaty.

We are in this position primarily because of the misintepretation by Hugh Kawharu of "tino rangatiratanga" and later, in 1987 ,in the Court of Appeal, Justice Robin Cooke intimated that “The Treaty established a relationship akin to a partnership between Crown and Maori”. Although the operative word was "akin" it was soon taken out of context and this set in motion the development of the so called principles for their inclusion in legislation. This aspect has not been covered in my submission as I believe this has not had the impact of Kawharu's misinterpretation.

Bruce Moon: A few things that need to be said

We must all by now have a pretty good idea that politics and political discussions, however necessary they may be, have a malignant effect on many things which are undoubtedly true and should be accepted as such by all. Nowhere is this more true than in the current and seemingly endless debate on the Treaty of Waitangi: what it meant and its consequences today.

There can be no doubt that the British Government of the day was acting from the highest principles of international law and practice and goodwill in despatching Captain Hobson to New Zealand in 1839 with the express objective of establishing British sovereignty over New Zealand with the free consent of the native population.

Bruce Moon: The Elephant in the Room?

“Democracy must belong to all of us” Dennis Chavez 

For a hotbed of racist propaganda and dubious history one need look no further than a publication called “E-Tangata”. And for an extreme example from it, one need look no further that the article by Moana Maniapoto dated 12 November 2023.

Michael Coote: Event to commemorate the death anniversary of Governor William Hobson

British naval captain William Hobson (1792 - 1842) was the first and final Lieutenant Governor (30 January 1840 - 2 May 1841) of New Zealand when it was part of the British Crown colony of New South Wales. 

Thereafter he served as the first Governor (3 May 1841 - 10 September 1842) of the newly separated British Crown colony of New Zealand. 

Due to the colonial governmental transition under Hobson, New Zealand avoided becoming a state or dependency of Australia.