Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Positive outcome of Waitangi Tribunal Mediation on Māori influence on trade negotiations welcomed by claimants and Crown.
Five years after the Waitangi Tribunal claim on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement was lodged, the claimants and the Crown are pleased to announce an agreed outcome from mediation concerning Issue 1: Engagement and Issue 2: Secrecy, addressing Crown engagement with Māori on trade negotiations and the Crown policy of confidentiality in trade negotiations.
After two days of positive mediation in October this year, the parties reached agreement and signed a settlement agreement resolving some key issues in the claim.
The parties have agreed that a Māori body, tentatively named Ngā Toki Whakarururanga, should be created to enable effective Māori influence on trade negotiations. An open and accountable process is being developed to facilitate the establishment of Ngā Toki Whakarururanga.
Proposed roles for Ngā Toki Whakarururanga include being able to:
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Develop processes of engagement that enable Māori as the Tiriti/Treaty partner to exercise genuine influence over trade policy, broadly defined, including at various stages of decision making in negotiations for international trade and investment agreements;
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Conduct or commission independent Tiriti impact assessments of proposed trade and investment agreements at various stages;
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Proactively identify matters that potentially affect relationships with taonga and Tiriti/Treaty rights to enable their active and effective protection;
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Develop a relationship with the relevant ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Deputy Secretary (Trade and Economic);
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Promote mutual education on matauranga Māori and international trade policy through an iterative process.
Claimant representatives and Deputy Secretary Vangelis Vitalis met this week to discuss implementation of the mediation agreement.
The first step is a working party to engage with Māori Peoples, Whānau, Hapū and Iwi, recognising the need for diversity of participation, and prepare an advisory paper setting out various options for the new body.
That will be followed by a process to obtain widespread consensus for the establishment of Ngā Toki Whakarururanga.
The Crown will provide funding support for the establishment process and the body once it is established, but does not have a role in appointing members or its operations.
Claimants who actively participated in the mediation include Dr Moana Jackson, Angeline Greensill and Moana Maniapoto, Professor Margaret Mutu for Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu, Titewhai Harawira on behalf of kuia and kaumatua of Ngapuhi tonu, Hone Tiatoa on behalf of Te Waimate Taiamai, Pita Tipene on behalf of Te Runanga o Ngati Hine, The New Zealand Māori Council, and the Grandmothers of Council of Waitaha.
For some of the claimants, such as Moana Jackson, Angeline Greensill and Moana Maniapoto, this is a long awaited development in a process that began decades ago with the Wai 262 claim, which challenged the negotiation of international trade rules affecting rights over taonga under secrecy to the exclusion of Māori.
Deputy Secretary Vangelis Vitalis said: “We look forward to supporting Ngā Toki Whakarururanga as it establishes itself in the coming months”.
For all claimants this mediation agreement is another positive step in rebuilding the domestic relationship between Whanau, Hapū and Iwi and the Crown and proper recognition of the tino rangatiratanga that has endured since the 1835 He Whakaputanga o Nga Rangatira o Nga Hapu o Niu Tireni and Te Tiriti o Waitangi 1840.