Michael Bassett: The challenges of Waitangi Day

With Waitangi Day coming up, it looks as if we are to receive another dose of nonsense about the meaning of the Treaty. The website Stuff carries an article by Julian Wilcox who, it seems, is to co-host Radio New Zealand’s Waitangi Day coverage. It is full of the usual muddle-headed material about how the Crown has failed Maori with its education and health policies. Wilcox relies on a 2019 Waitangi Tribunal finding that argues for a new set of Treaty principles for New Zealand.

I’ll leave aside the fact that the job of the Tribunal, as set out in law, is to deal with existing Treaty principles, not to dream up new ones. From my decade served on the Tribunal I recall many people keen to invent new responsibilities for the Crown. No one ever seemed to feel that Maori had any need to improve their level of response to the opportunities that were already on offer. For the Tribunal, and for Wilcox who parrots them, every improvement that is needed in Maori outcomes must come from the Crown and be funded by taxpayers. A cynic might think that it all sounds like a Maori expectation that all of them should have an armchair ride to equality with those who take education seriously, are prepared to work hard, improve themselves, and contribute towards the wider social advancement of our country.