Waitangi Tribunal Stage One Interim Report
The Waitangi Tribunal has just released its Stage One interim report for the Education and Training Amendment Act (ETA) and Te Mātaiaho Urgent Inquiry.
It is solely focused on Minister Goldsmith’s reform work to downgrade the status of Te Tiriti in legislation. This came into scope because of the significant number of sections of the ETA that were included in this work.
The findings are clear and damning.
“We have found the Crown’s approach to the reforms has breached the treaty principles of partnership, active protection, and good government and caused prejudice to Māori. We recommend you correct course and immediately halt the advancement of the proposed amending legislation.”
The report details how it came to that conclusion. Specifically, it found:
- The Crown did have a duty to engage meaningfully with Māori with regard to this issue. It did not.
- That despite having advice on how to develop a Treaty-compliant process, the Crown decided to pursue a course that was inconsistent with that advice.
- That Cabinet ignored repeated official advice that the reforms lacked sufficient in-depth analysis and carried a significant risk to Māori-Crown relations.
- That the decision to downgrade the status of the Treaty is a major breach and is “an attempt by the Crown to takahi [trample, tramp, stamp, tread, abuse, disregard] the mana of the treaty and its place in the laws of Aotearoa.”
The Stage Two report is forthcoming, and will be focused on the original scope of the inquiry: the removal of s127(1)(d) from the Education and Training Act, and the curriculum change programme.
You can read (should) the full Stage One report here.
https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_249931898/Wai%203553%20PP.pdf