Introduction: New Zealand is reviewing its constitution but the panel
set up to do this review is comprised, not of constitutional experts or representatives
of a fair cross-section of the people of New Zealand, but an appreciable number
of Maori studies academics, some with strident anti-colonialist views. Discreet
and separate Maori and non-Maori consultation is a feature of this review. It
is the second constitutional review in seven years and is being undertaken in
the absence of a constitutional crisis. The review is being driven at the
behest of the Maori Party, a political party that captured just 1.4 percent of
the party vote in the 2011 general election.
