While we are mourning the election result and wondering why the masses rejected the offer of GST off fruit and vegetables, I thought I would map out some suggestions that could make the New Zealand Labour Party, the party of our future.
We might see these Proposals as the ‘Great Leap Forwards’ or perhaps, like the Kennedy ‘Moonshots’, intended to inspire future generations to see our country in a new light.
First up. Proposal 1. Reimburse Maori fully for the stolen taongas.
While the Treaty of Waitangi continues to be battered back and forth, the cold, clear reality is that Maori, after signing the infuriating Treaty, were systematically dispossessed of their land. Any reading of the history of colonial treaties, from any country you can name that had the privilege of being colonised, shows that treaties were the primary method of dispossession and were designed to be broken.
And in New Zealand, it didn’t take long for the Crown to begin the organised and deliberate expropriation of Maori land and its subsequent disbursement to colonists. The removal of around 70% of New Zealand’s forest cover to create the pastureland called farms, did not benefit Maori at all.
The Waitangi Tribunal has reviewed case after case of Maori being attacked, having their land and other taonga being confiscated or swindled out of their possession, leading directly to their current status as third class citizens – in the country their ancestors discovered.
A brief reading of the Nelson 10ths Land Case, is the most recent in a depressing litany of outright theft that characterised my ancestors approach to the tangata whenua. The New Zealand Company (a version of the East India Company) signed a deal (later endorsed by the Crown when subsequently signing the Treaty of Waitangi) to buy 152,000 acres of land in Nelson and to set aside around 15,000 acres for use by local Maori. They ended up with around 1600 acres.
Nobody disputes that the Maori owners were not given the 15,000. but the Crown, in attempting to avoid having to pay anything like what is owed, noted that “the claim placed a lot of demand on the Government and on the public purse, and while the Crown wanted to refresh the relationship with top of the south Māori in a way that was affordable for the country, it rejected it had an ongoing duty.”
The Crown ‘wanted to refresh the relationship’ by rejecting it has a duty to pay a debt it is liable for – because it will cost a lot of money and put a ‘lot of demand on the public purse’. So, we steal the land and some time later, after admitting the theft, we offer 10 cents in the dollar as restitution.
This is the nub of the problem – the cost. My reading of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process is that the appellants are offered a deal by the Crown that bears no relation to the current value of what was stolen, on the basis that the settlement will give them a reasonable amount to establish themselves as a going concern and an apology, in good faith, for the previous treatment received.
The Crown is effectively claiming it can’t afford to pay the full cost of reparations and that Maori need to do a deal. Yet another deal, with all the cards in the Crown’s hand.
I reject this approach. Maori need to be repaid in full, at the current value of the stolen taonga.
A recent review of the value of current settlements shows that $2.6 billion has been allocated. Using the 10 cents in the dollar calculator provided by my friend Arthur M, who believes his iwi were short changed by this amount in their Settlement, a rough calculation shows that Maori should have been paid $26 billion and that around $18.6 billion is still owing.
Not something the Crown is going to be able pay off quickly!
And that’s a good thing. Maori have all the time in the world. They aren’t going anywhere soon and I believe they would happily sit down and do a deal, that over time, perhaps a long time, would see the debt repaid at a fair rate.
How good would that be for our economy? Millions of dollars going to our poorest communities to help them thrive and succeed – as they have demonstrated via examples of previous Treaty of Waitangi Settlements.
How good would it be for our economy to have businesses owned by New Zealanders and not international companies who currently treat New Zealand like a milk cow – banks and duopolies milking interest rates and artificially high prices?
I knew you’d ask; how will we pay for this extra commitment? Try taxing those who have made the most from the ‘deal’ the Crown delivered when it stole the land for them. We can start with the nearly $1 billion this current government is going to gift landlords.
Paul Chalmers
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