Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Design principles for constitutional hijack......

Design principles for constitutional hijack – or how we got those Treaty principles in the first place

The ‘principles of the Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi’ have arrived on the political stage. A smallish political party has got a bill before parliament in an attempt to define the principles. Opponents pushed back with street protests, mostly hostile media coverage and parliamentary theatre. The message from opponents is loud and clear: the Treaty principles are untouchable by ordinary citizens.

Bruce Moon: A vast deception

An extravagantly illustrated article in Stuff on 5th February 2022 written by one Philip Matthews and evidently endorsed by Claudia Orange, whose picture appears within it, carries the headline:

Was the Treaty of Waitangi an act of love or a vast deception?

The answer to that question is neither of those alternatives!!

It is indeed a common trick of hucksters and even, sadly, of politicians, to present false alternative answers to a question (sidestepping the correct answer) and inviting the audience to choose between them. We should be decidedly naive if we fell for that trick on this occasion.

Denis Hampton: Orange Treaty book a lemon

 

It is now generally accepted that the true Treaty of Waitangi is Te Tiriti (the Maori version). However if this document is to have ongoing significance we must be certain of what those early good folk had in mind when they made their marks. In my quest for a better understanding, I recently acquired a copy of Claudia Orange's The Treaty of Waitangi. According to Wikipedia this book “has become a definitive reference for interpreting the relevance” of the treaty.