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ANANISH CHAUDHURI: Debate around ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill essential for a multi-ethnic nation

I support the Treaty Principles Bill introduced by ACT. I believe the debate around this bill is fundamentally important if New Zealand is to remain a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation.


Here is the way I see it. While I fully acknowledge the discrepancies between the Maori and English versions of Te Tiriti Waitangi, the debate on whether Maori ceded sovereignty to the British Crown is sublimated by a long list of subsequent acts (and laws) that hold New Zealand to be an independent sovereign state. Parliamentary sovereignty has long been considered a foundational constitutional rule.


I was born in India, a former colony that does not recognize the Crown. I then studied and worked in the United States for many years; another former colony that does not recognize the Crown either. I strongly dislike the idea of having an unelected monarch as the Head of State and the Union Jack on our flag. But that is the law and in agreeing to accept New Zealand citizenship, I have agreed to abide by those as well as the multitude of other laws proclaimed by the nation’s Parliament.


This is the essence of a Parliamentary democracy; that all citizens are equal under the law.


While my interpretation may well be wrong, the fact remains that the proponents of the “Maori did not cede sovereignty” view are ignoring a key issue, which necessitates the need to have the conversation around the Treaty Principles.


According to the 2023 census, New Zealand’s population is 4,999,923. Out of these 3,383, 742 (68%) identify as Pakeha, 887, 493 (18%) as Maori, 442, 632 (9%) as Pacifica, 707,598 (14%) as Asian, 92, 760 (2%) as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African and 1% other. (The percentages add to more than 100 since people are allowed to indicate more than one ethnicity.)


The 1987 Court of Appeals decision argued that the treaty “signified a partnership between Pakeha and Maori requiring each other to act towards the other reasonably and with the utmost good faith” and that “the duty of the Crown was not just passive but extended to active protection of Māori people in the use of their lands and waters to the fullest extent practicable.”


But this emphasis on a bicultural view of New Zealand citizenship is antithetical to the basic tenets of a liberal democracy. If the treaty indeed establishes a partnership between two out of many ethnic groups residing in the country, and we are going to view our political process through this lens, then what does this imply for the quarter of the population that is neither Maori nor Pakeha?


This quarter of the population typically originates from other colonized nations, are not necessarily financially well-off and are people who have ventured to our shores in search of a better life. Did these people somehow become colonizers and the privileged by the wave of a magic wand? Or are they destined to be second tier citizens governed by an uneasy alliance between the Pakeha and Maori? If the basic argument is about equity then why are these people being excluded?


As David Lange pointed out in a 2000 speech (paragraph 9):


Here I come back to the government’s aim of closing the gaps between rich and poor, and the way in which it was overtaken in public understanding by the subsidiary goal of closing the gaps between Maori and the rest. I don’t describe the second goal as lesser than the first out of any wish to minimise the effect of growing inequality on Maori people. What I mean is that from the point of view of a democratic government, the first goal can encompass the second, but the second can’t encompass the first. If the government’s goal is to reduce inequality, it follows that it will do whatever it can to improve the position of Maori.


Democratic government can accommodate Maori political aspiration in many ways. It can allocate resources in ways which reflect the particular interests of Maori people. It can delegate authority, and allow the exercise of degrees of Maori autonomy. What it cannot do is acknowledge the existence of a separate sovereignty. As soon as it does that, it isn’t a democracy. We can have a democratic form of government or we can have indigenous sovereignty. They can’t coexist and we can’t have them both.


We have a choice. We can choose to remain a liberal democracy where everyone counts, or we can become an ethnocentric nation based on identity politics and riven by ethnic tensions. Make no mistake; the current path where particular ethnicities are granted “partnership” status can only lead to the eventual appearance of more ethnic parties fighting it out for a seat at the table.


Ananish Chaudhuri, PhD.

Professor of Experimental Economics | University of Auckland


2,733 views118 comments

118 Comments


Let's be realistic.


Most people are kind and willing to help others through tough times but we do not want to have to pay to support them and their families for the rest of their lives.

Most of us also accept the responsibility of becoming responsible and law abiding adults who provide something useful for others in return for what we receive.


Decent people do not want to be "parasites" or "useless eaters" but some other people do.


Intelligence, character and social worth can be influenced by genetics but are not determined by race, ethnicity, ancestry or gender.

They are determined more by what we experience in our lives and the effort we make to become better people and citizens.


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Replying to

Hear Hear Charlie

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100%

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Thank you so much for being willing, and feeling 'safe' 😉enough to add to the debate.

Each culture should feel free to enjoy and celebrate being who they collectively are. But to live in NZ at the moment only one culture is being promoted as dominant to the detriment of all others. This is tribalism.

You are right in that Māori tribalism will just encourage more tribalism from different cultures.

I don't have an issue with our flag as it explains our foundation (the union jack) and our position (under the southern cross) and as a country we used to be simply proud of our nation.

I consider myself a New Zealander as I was born here and/or have citizenship…

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We are all descendants of people that lived in tribal cultures of the past.

Our ancestors eventually replaced those divisive tribal cultures by establishing Nation States, with a uniform and uniting system of government, laws and civil order.

The Treaty of Waitangi enabled that transition from a tribal culture to a Nation State to occur in New Zealand.

The advantage of a Nation State is that it UNITES THE CITIZENS as if they are all equal members of a larger "family" group in which they have the same rights, privileges and opportunities. Identity politics is a political strategy to divide the citizens into many "identity groups" so that they can be manipulated for the benefit of the "authorities" in opposing political…


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5/10 for intentions but your article was replete with error. It was not a partnership, the relationship was described as being like one but that was just the musings of a judge (& we all know how wrong they can be)

And we don’t want a multicultural society. Multiethnic, sure, but one shared main culture is all that will work. We can have natural individual variance from ancestral ties sure, but only one dominant worldview that guides our government & societal norms.


Oh yeah, & if you don’t like the Union Jack, how come you’re happy to live under the freedoms it provided? You Sir are either a bit of a hypocrite or rather ungrateful.


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Jules
6 days ago
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Firstly - it was a stupid referendum with a stupid, embarrassing process run by people who were clueless and arrogantly ignored the advice of people who know about heraldry and vexiillogy. The people who chose 4 of the 5 designs on the ballot were “prominent New Zealanders” with no subject matter expertise whatsoever. It was weighted towards a design with a crap Fern - two of the designs were the same with a different colourway, bad designs with the same naff fern, to try and make people choose one of them. The fifth design, known as Red Peak, was very good but that was only on there because a bunch of designers were so mortified by the other four t…

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How many who describe themselves as Pakeha had descendants or who themselves did not arrive until much later? They can hardly be described as colonisers either

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Jules
6 days ago
Replying to

The writer is wrong - that’s my point. You can call yourself one if you want - but kindly don’t foist it on others.

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