Decision by PM to skip Waitangi decried
Christopher Luxon, in his decision to not attend the Waitangi Day events at the national marae in Waitangi, has missed an opportunity to go down in history as a prime minister who stepped up, met Māori, taking the opportunity to open proper, positive dialogue with regards the founding document of our country, what it means and how it could be carried forward into future generations.
He has had the opportunity to stand up to a self-aggrandising popinjay that is intent on creating disunity and chaos in order to give himself and his small minority the perception of power. He had the chance to denounce a Bill that seeks to undermine the entire culture of Aotearoa New Zealand and set race relations back 50 or more years.
He could have been the impetus behind the implementation of policies and strategies that would have been the envy of all the countries struggling with the effects of post-colonialism and who admire our Treaty of Waitangi.
We are standing at the crossroads of an important stage of our country’s growth as a unified nation and he could have led that charge,
But he is not going to. Instead he has shown, to use an epithet used by my dear departed father for those he held in particular contempt, to be "spineless, as tough as a sago sandwich".
He may have been fine as a CEO but as a statesman and a politician, he has shown himself to lack mana, and if he is to be remembered at all, it will be for that.
Moving on
A little over a month out from Waitangi Day the country’s attention will inevitably be drawn to the nation’s founding document.
This year the focus will be ramped up given that the David Seymour-sponsored Treaty Principles Bill is currently before Parliament.
The Treaty was signed, 185 years ago, by circa 540 Māori chiefs and the English Crown.
Given many chiefs did not understand English and te reo Māori was not a written language how on earth were Māori expected to interpret or understand what they were signing? Furthermore the attempted translation from English to te reo, the version signed by most Māori chiefs, would have been fraught with "lost in translation" issues which are at the heart of today’s principles debate.
Roll forward 185 years and should there be any wonder there is what is dubbed the "Treaty industry" sorting out Treaty related matters? The Waitangi Tribunal has the unenviable task of making sense of the nation’s founding document.
The fourth Labour government made a concerted effort in 1989 to codify and define the overriding principles of the Treaty with limited success.
The conundrum remains has to how the courts and the government of the day honour the Treaty when there is no consensus on even some of the most fundamental principles.
The current doomed Treaty Principles Bill has been described as altruistic, well intentioned, untimely and naive.
The notion of "in perpetuity" sadly comes to mind as the same debate and impasse will be hanging over many more generations of New Zealanders wanting to move on with their lives rather than dwell in the past.
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