Ngā Toki Whakarururanga condemns ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill
As a claimant in the Constitutional Kaupapa Inquiry, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga joins with Māori across the motu to condemn the ACT Party’s assault on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and National and NZ First as complicit in allowing the Treaty Principles Bill to be introduced.
The rushed introduction of the Bill to pre-empt the protest hīkoi confirms this is a political stunt designed to provoke Māori and appeal to the racist vote. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga is clear that Te Tiriti o Waitangi, affirming He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni, is only the legitimate constitutional reference point for Aotearoa that defines the relationship between ngā Hapū me ngā Iwi and the Crown – not the “principles”, however the Crown defines them.
When the Waitangi Tribunal judges the Crown’s actions, that must be against “principles” derived from te Tiriti. The primacy of Te Tiriti defines our relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and is why we have consistently rejected references to Treaty principles in trade negotiations and agreements.
Hui with new MFAT chief executive
A small Ngā Toki Whakarururanga delegation met with representatives of MFAT. Source: File
This month a small delegation from Ngā Toki Whakarururanga met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) chief executive Bede Corry for this first time since he was appointed in July. Also present at the hui were representatives from MFAT’s Māori Policy Unit Houtina and the Trade and Economic Group.
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga took the opportunity to brief the new chief executive on our whakapapa as a rōpū that emerged from the Wai 2522 claim; the Crown’s commitments in the Mediation Agreement; and our kaupapa – in particular our commitment to upholding Te Tiriti in the free trade space.
We appreciated the opportunity to connect with the new chief executive as well as other members of MFAT’s leadership and look forward to concrete next steps that build on the Mediation Agreement to create even stronger relationships that advance a Te Tiriti based kaupapa.
MFAT Te Hurumanu strategic group and Ngāti Ranginui chair Charlie Rahiri, NTW co-convenor Moana Maniapoto and MFAT Deputy Secretary, Trade and Economic Vangelis Vitalis.
AGM reflects on past year and future for Ngā Toki Whakarururanga
Attendees at the Ngā Toki Whakarururanga AGM 2024 following Jane Kelsey’s wānanga workshop.
Our Nga Toki Whakarururanga AGM, held on 5 November, was an opportunity to review of the work carried out over the last year as well as to look forward to those kaupapa that we need to prioritise going forward. The hui discussion reinforced the importance of kaihautū and pūkenga meeting in person to strengthen our governance and working relationships and make informed decisions about critical issues and direction for the year ahead.
Te Hiwa Rhieve Grey has prepared a broad-based work programme, continuing Tiriti-based interventions in trade negotiations and Tiriti assessments of new agreements, alongside of outreach and empowerment, completion of Borrin Foundation projects on constitutional transformation and te Taiao and Climate change, active participation in the Waitangi Tribunal constitutional kaupapa, climate change, and natural resource inquiries (distinct from the Borrin projects).
Moana Maniapoto and Pita Tipene have generously agreed to continue as co-convenors for another year. We warmly welcome two new kaihautū – Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe) and Helen Te Hira (Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi), and thank Michelle Paki (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata), who is stepping down due to work commitments, for her valuable contribution especially in developing the strategic kaupapa.
An excellent wānanga workshop was led by pūkenga Jane Kelsey prior to the AGM starting to bring everyone up to speed with international trade agreements and developments through a Tiriti lens. An edited version will be posted on our website.
Letter to NZ and Fiji trade ministers calling for inter-indigenous dialogue
The Ngā Toki Whakarururanga co-convenors wrote to the Fiji Minister for Trade Hon. Manoa Kamikamica and Trade Minister McClay in October seeking to explore a stronger Indigenous to Indigenous relationship between Fiji and Aotearoa.
It comes after Ngā Toki Whakarururanga kaihautū identified the building of Indigenous to Indigenous relationships in the trade space as a priority. Reports that the Crown and the Australian government were in dialogue with Fiji, urging its participation in a neoliberal free trade agreement called PACER Plus, also made it a prime opportunity to put this alternative kaupapa on the table for the Pacific, should Fiji decide to join PACER Plus or as a stand alone arrangement.
This could support, for example, the establishment of a joint programme around the culturally appropriate control and protections for traditional knowledge and cultural property rights in an area of mutual importance, such as kava for Fiji and mānuka for Aotearoa, with outreach to the rest of the Pacific. In the letter the co-convenors cited the Mataatua Declaration on the Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples as an example of a possible arrangement.
Mana Wāhine Declaration for Hineahuone presented in India
This month Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust founder and Ngā Toki Whakarururanga kaihautū Dr Jessica Hutchings, and kaihautū and rongoā practitioner Donna Kerridge, travelled to Navdanya in India to present the Mana Wahine Declaration for Hineahuone, a Māori women’s declaration for soil and seed.
The rōpū from Aotearoa, led by Hutchings, presented the declaration, signed by 300 people, to environmental activist and food sovereignty advocate Dr Vandana Shiva. The declaration is an urgent call by Indigenous women to return to ways of listening and being in relationship with Hineahuone (Soil deity) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother), and use Hua Parakore principles to restore mauri and bring harmony back to the whenua.
Dr Jessica Hutchings and Dr Vandana Shiva. Photo credit: Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust
The declaration says it advocates for “the mana and mauri of the soil and seed to be elevated and calls out practices that degrade the soil food web and patents on seeds.”
“We say no to the extractive logic of capitalist patriarchy, the chemical poisoning of Papatūānuku, patents on lifeforms, GMOs and reductive, mechanistic worldviews,” the declaration says.
“We are outraged that government and corporations still seek unfettered growth and the expense of Papatūānuku and her descendants. We call on people, movements and governments to reinvigorate our reciprocal relationship with Mother Earth and to generate healing grounds and food farms that grow soil and build living-seed communities.”
Whānau from Papatūānuku Marae also attended as well as a team from Māoriland Film Festival who are making an eight-part short documentary series Hua Parakore – Rebuilding Our Broken Food Systemabout the haerenga and the declaration, to be shown at Māoriland film festival 2025. Read the full declaration here.
NTW kaihautū and rongoā practitioner Donna Kerridge in India. Photo credit: Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust
Digital wānanga in Pōneke
Attendees of the digital wānanga. Source: File
As part of our commitment to building Māori knowledge and expertise in the digital trade space, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga held an interactive wānanga in Pōneke in October for the team at Kāhui Legal, facilitated by trade pūkenga Jane Kelsey and Kāhui Legal partner Lynelle Tuffery-Huria.
The invitation to run the workshop followed on from two digital trade wānanga that were organised as part of our Te Pae Tawhiti projects, funded through Te Puni Kōkiri. We are now building a solid resource base that we will facilitate more outreach and knowledge sharing in the future.