Post by Kiwi Frontline on Nov 8, 2020 7:38:10 GMT 12
WHAT PARTNERSHIP? - Don Brash
Several points to make.
First, the word “partnership” does not appear anywhere in the Treaty. Nor does any other word that might be regarded as a synonym of “partnership”. And that’s true whether we’re talking about the English-language draft from which the Treaty was translated into Maori, the Maori language version of the Treaty (the official version of the Treaty), or the so-called official English version of the Treaty. The word simply does not appear.
Second, the word “partnership” implies two or more distinct parties to a relationship. But almost 180 years after the Treaty was signed, there are no longer distinct parties. We and our ancestors have formed relationships and married without regard to racial distinctions. Nobody in New Zealand today has exclusively Maori ancestors. Most of those who have a Maori ancestor have more ancestors who are not Maori.
We have allowed people who have one Maori great-grandparent – and seven non Maori great-grandparents – to speak as if they are part of an oppressed minority, suffering still from what their non-Maori great-grandparents did to their one Maori great-grandparent.
Third, one of the most insidious implications of talk about “partnership” is the claim that in 1840 the Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty did not really cede sovereignty to the Crown at all. In an astonishing report issued in 2014, the Waitangi Tribunal claimed that the Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty agreed to share power and authority with Britain, but did not cede sovereignty – in other words, did not cede authority to make and enforce law over their people and territories.
But as historian and Treaty specialist Professor Paul Moon of AUT made clear at the time, the Tribunal’s conclusion was “manifestly wrong”.
Chris Finlayson, at that time Attorney General and Minister in Charge of Treaty Negotiations, and somebody well known for having considerable sympathy for Maori aspirations, said in reaction to the Tribunal’s report that there was “no question that the Crown has sovereignty in New Zealand”.
The wording of Article I of the Treaty is quite unambiguous. It makes it totally clear that the signatories ceded “to the Queen of England forever the entire sovereignty of their country”.
And it is abundantly clear from the speeches made by many chiefs at the time that they understood they were being asked to surrender to a higher authority. Several objected strongly, and said they would not accept that they would have less authority than Governor Hobson – but nevertheless eventually did sign, presumably because of the benefits they could see of a higher authority putting an end to inter-tribal warfare and fending off any French involvement.
One of the chiefs who signed, Tamati Waka Nene, was described on his tombstone as a “Chief of Ngapuhi, the first to welcome the Queen’s Sovereignty”.
Twenty years after the Treaty was signed in 1840, at a conference of many scores of chiefs at Kohimarama, speech after speech spoke of the benefit of having the Queen as the highest authority in the land.
Sir Apirana Ngata, writing about the Treaty in 1922, said that “the Treaty made one law for the Maori and Pakeha. If you think things are wrong and bad then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were very powerful”.
Moreover, with very rare exceptions, the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders with a Maori ancestor have behaved as if sovereignty was ceded in 1840:
• they’ve served in the Police and the Armed Forces;
• they’ve bought and sold assets, registering those transactions with an agency of the Crown;
• they’ve paid income taxes and GST;
• they’ve been employed by the Crown as teachers, nurses, and bureaucrats;
• they’ve accepted unemployment benefits, New Zealand Superannuation and other benefits;
• they’ve accepted treatment in public hospitals and from highly subsidized doctors;
• they’ve been educated in public schools and universities;
• they’ve travelled overseas on New Zealand passports;
• they’ve accepted large sums of money from the Crown in resolution of so-called historical grievances.
Very strange behaviour if Maori haven’t accepted the sovereignty of the Crown......
www.kiwifrontline.nz/maori-agendas/partnership-sovereignty-don-brash
Several points to make.
First, the word “partnership” does not appear anywhere in the Treaty. Nor does any other word that might be regarded as a synonym of “partnership”. And that’s true whether we’re talking about the English-language draft from which the Treaty was translated into Maori, the Maori language version of the Treaty (the official version of the Treaty), or the so-called official English version of the Treaty. The word simply does not appear.
Second, the word “partnership” implies two or more distinct parties to a relationship. But almost 180 years after the Treaty was signed, there are no longer distinct parties. We and our ancestors have formed relationships and married without regard to racial distinctions. Nobody in New Zealand today has exclusively Maori ancestors. Most of those who have a Maori ancestor have more ancestors who are not Maori.
We have allowed people who have one Maori great-grandparent – and seven non Maori great-grandparents – to speak as if they are part of an oppressed minority, suffering still from what their non-Maori great-grandparents did to their one Maori great-grandparent.
Third, one of the most insidious implications of talk about “partnership” is the claim that in 1840 the Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty did not really cede sovereignty to the Crown at all. In an astonishing report issued in 2014, the Waitangi Tribunal claimed that the Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty agreed to share power and authority with Britain, but did not cede sovereignty – in other words, did not cede authority to make and enforce law over their people and territories.
But as historian and Treaty specialist Professor Paul Moon of AUT made clear at the time, the Tribunal’s conclusion was “manifestly wrong”.
Chris Finlayson, at that time Attorney General and Minister in Charge of Treaty Negotiations, and somebody well known for having considerable sympathy for Maori aspirations, said in reaction to the Tribunal’s report that there was “no question that the Crown has sovereignty in New Zealand”.
The wording of Article I of the Treaty is quite unambiguous. It makes it totally clear that the signatories ceded “to the Queen of England forever the entire sovereignty of their country”.
And it is abundantly clear from the speeches made by many chiefs at the time that they understood they were being asked to surrender to a higher authority. Several objected strongly, and said they would not accept that they would have less authority than Governor Hobson – but nevertheless eventually did sign, presumably because of the benefits they could see of a higher authority putting an end to inter-tribal warfare and fending off any French involvement.
One of the chiefs who signed, Tamati Waka Nene, was described on his tombstone as a “Chief of Ngapuhi, the first to welcome the Queen’s Sovereignty”.
Twenty years after the Treaty was signed in 1840, at a conference of many scores of chiefs at Kohimarama, speech after speech spoke of the benefit of having the Queen as the highest authority in the land.
Sir Apirana Ngata, writing about the Treaty in 1922, said that “the Treaty made one law for the Maori and Pakeha. If you think things are wrong and bad then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were very powerful”.
Moreover, with very rare exceptions, the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders with a Maori ancestor have behaved as if sovereignty was ceded in 1840:
• they’ve served in the Police and the Armed Forces;
• they’ve bought and sold assets, registering those transactions with an agency of the Crown;
• they’ve paid income taxes and GST;
• they’ve been employed by the Crown as teachers, nurses, and bureaucrats;
• they’ve accepted unemployment benefits, New Zealand Superannuation and other benefits;
• they’ve accepted treatment in public hospitals and from highly subsidized doctors;
• they’ve been educated in public schools and universities;
• they’ve travelled overseas on New Zealand passports;
• they’ve accepted large sums of money from the Crown in resolution of so-called historical grievances.
Very strange behaviour if Maori haven’t accepted the sovereignty of the Crown......
www.kiwifrontline.nz/maori-agendas/partnership-sovereignty-don-brash