Barrie Davis: Stuff and the Media Council, an Open Letter

Dear Melissa Lee MP, 

Congratulations on your appointment as the Minister of Broadcasting and Media. Will you please consider the following issue regarding reporting by Stuff.

I expect that you are aware of the Maranga Mai Report (also Summary) published by the Human Rights Commission at the beginning of 2023. That Report says, “The principal recommendation of Maranga Mai! tasks the government with committing to constitutional transformation and establishing co-governance … Central to this reform would be the government condemning and rejecting the constitutional application of the Doctrine of Discovery to Aotearoa…”

Peter Winsley: The legality of New Zealand’s government, and what should we do about the Doctrine of Discovery?

Claire Charters makes some remarkable assertions in her 14 July Opinion piece Matariki is a mark of how far we have come and how far we have to travel.

Charters is a law professor at Auckland University. She chaired the He Puapua working group and is the indigenous rights governance partner at the Human Rights Commission. She has ancestral links to Ngāti Whakaue, Tūwharetoa, Ngā Puhi and Tainui. She also has extensive European ancestry.

In her 14 July Opinion piece Professor Charters argues that “before we can claim to be a nation founded on the rule of law, we must address the fundamental illegality of the state.” To add to the sins of the illegal New Zealand state, Charters also opines that “Aotearoa still refuses to repudiate the doctrine of discovery – the racist rule that permitted European powers to take land from “natives” because they didn’t qualify as human.”

Barrie Davis: The Doctrine of Discovery Essay

In recent years, a previously little-known principle called the Doctrine of Discovery from the Age of Discovery has been added to Maori grievances. 

It is said the Doctrine originated in 15^th century papal bulls, that it is present in New Zealand law and that it must be removed. 

In particular, the recent Maranga Mai! report claims New Zealand was colonized under the authority of the Doctrine, that the Doctrine was a factor to the impact of colonization on Maoris, and that rejecting the constitutional application of the Doctrine is central to establishing co-governance.