Treaty indoctrination in action

A new School Journal comic book aimed at 10- to 12-year-olds with a Year 6 reading level shows indoctrination about the Treaty of Waitangi in action.

Pages 8 and 9 of this publication, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, written by Ross Calman and Mark Derby, and illustrated by Toby Morris, for intermediate school pupils includes a university-level analysis of the differences in meaning between the English and Maori texts of the treaty.

It alleges that the explanation of the Treaty to the chiefs was misleading.

It conveys the new orthodox view that Article 1 ceded sovereignty but Article 2 guaranteed chiefs their "chieftainship".

Under this new orthodoxy, the governor was only allowed to control British subjects, while the chiefs could carry on ruling their people independently.

The School Journal comic does not say that this interpretation of the treaty was only created in the 1980s by a Waitangi Tribunal member.

Neither does it say that this new view conflicts with the understanding held from 1840 to 1980, which was that all the Treaty says is that the Queen is sovereign and Maori are her subjects, with the rights of subjects, including possession of property.

If school children are first exposed to a reinterpreted, grievance version of the Treaty, anything else about the Treaty may appear to them to be wrong and unsafe.

While the comic School Journal is new, the Calman book has been around for years in non-comic format, and Treaty indoctrination has been going on for so long that we have a generation of doctors, lawyers, and news reporters all brought up on this stuff.

The problem for the Government is that questioning of the new Treaty orthodoxy just won’t go away, so attempts at indoctrination, like the School Journal comic book, appear to be increasing.

See https://www.hobsonspledge.nz/treaty_texts

Govt advised to keep quiet on top-ups

The Government was advised to keep quiet about huge Treaty of Waitangi top-up payments to two iwi for fear of undermining the whole Treaty process, according to Stuff.

In January, the Government paid $370-million in total to Waikato-Tainui and Ngai Tahu under relativity clauses they negotiated into their settlements in the 1990s.

The relativity clauses enabled proportional top-ups to those two tribes once Treaty settlement spending throughout the country exceeded $1 billion.

The Government has always been reluctant to be open about the treaty settlement process.

The Key Government had to be pushed in 2012 to confirm the first top-up payments.
There has never been a summary table of all settlements on the OTS site so that efforts to find out total financial redress, and financial and cultural redress per tribe involves significant research.
The composition of post settlement governance groups remains unclear, concealing the small number of people at the receiving end of state generosity.

See “Keep quiet unless asked” at https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/105705660/officials-advised-the-government-to-keep-quiet-about-large-treaty-of-waitangi-payments-unless-asked

Govt sets up Maori Freshwater Forum

The Government has set up a Maori Freshwater Forum to improve water quality, Environment Minister David Parker said on Friday.

The initiative that will attract the attention of all dairy farmers is aimed at reducing nutrient pollution in nutrient-enriched catchments in both developed and under-developed land, which is “disproportionately in Maori hands”, on a catchment-by-catchment basis.

Parker briefed the Iwi Chairs Forum on the new group on Friday.

The Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group has a well-developed proposal for transferring ownership of the water column of lakes and rivers to iwi. Search for the Powerpoint presentation titled: Freshwater Iwi. Leaders Group. July/August 2015.

The media release here https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/kahui-wai-m%C4%81ori-group-work-freshwater has no mention of water ownership.

Coastal area claim tsunami requires extra resources

A judge has urged the Crown to step up with resources for resolving Maori coastal and marine claims, although there is not a word about any resources for cross-claims from objectors, who must pay their own way.

In the High Court at Wellington Justice David Collins is overseeing the 202 pending court claims. Many of these are also among the 385 who are trying to negotiate directly with the Minister a recognition agreement.

Under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 claims had to be filed by April 1, 2017, for protected customary rights orders or marine title orders over areas not already privately owned or part of a conservation or other protected area.

See https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105960231/slow-flow-to-hundreds-of-mori-coastal-and-marine-claims-in-pipeline