The Treaty Debates

This year's Treaty Debate, recorded at Soundings Theatre, Te Papa discusses the Treaty Settlement process and how iwi move forward in a post-settlement phase. The panel is Matiu Rei, Executive Director at Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira. Peter Douglas Chief Executive of Te Ohu Kaimoana, Jamie Tuuta Head of Te Tumu Paeroa (The New Maori Trustee) and Rahui Papa Chairman of Te Arataura, the Executive Board of Waikato-Tainui Iwi. The debate was recorded by RNZ on January 29, 2015.

This year's Treaty Debate, recorded at Te Papa, is a discussion of water rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. The panel features Jacinta Ruru (University of Otago, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Maniapoto), Donald Couch (Environment Canterbury), Clive Howard-Williams (NIWA), and Ian McKenzie (Federated Farmers) moderated by Carwyn Jones from the NZ Centre for Public Law and Te Papa's Head of Research Dr Claudia Orange. The event was recorded by RNZ on January 30 2014 in collaboration with Te Papa and the New Centre for Public Law.

Kim Hill chairs a panel of young people who answer the question: What issues in the constitutional review do you care about? Recorded at Te Papa 31 January 2013.

Lawyers Matthew Palmer and Moana Jackson discuss the topic: What place does the treaty have in New Zealand's constitutional arrangements? Recorded at Te Papa 24 January 2013.

Professor John Burrows outlines the forthcoming constitutional review which he is co-chairing, looking at a wide range of issues to do with New Zealand's constitutional arrangements. Professor Burrows discusses the topic with commentators Nin Tomas and Claudia Geiringer.

Chaired by historian Dr Claudia Orange, the first debate features Justice Joe Williams and public law specialist Mai Chen discussing the Waitangi Tribunal's long-awaited first "whole of government" report.

The second debate, also chaired by historian Dr Claudia Orange and law lecturer Carwyn Jones, features Whaimutu Dewes and the Human Rights Commissioner Joris de Bres, who consider how power might be shared between Maori and the Crown in the 21st century.

Chaired by historian Dr Claudia Orange, the first debate features Tom Bennion from the Maori Law Review exploring the issue of the ownership and use of the foreshore and seabed with fellow lawyer Matanuku Mahuika.

Professor Mason Durie, with social commentator Colin James, consider the options for future, including three alternative scenarios which have New Zealand as a republic, as part of the federated states of Australasia, and with Maori leading world-wide networks of indigenous peoples and businesses.

Professor Paul Spoonley from Massey University articulates the evolutionary nature of the last 40 years of Maori social and cultural change through a focus on the life and achievement of fellow-panellist Professor Emeritus Ranginui Walker.

Professor Philip Joseph from the University of Canterbury and broadcaster and former local body politician Derek Fox square off about the origins, value, and future of the Maori electoral seats.

The first debate features Roger Kerr and Robert McLeod from the New Zealand Business Roundtable, exploring historical and contemporary perspectives on Maori, business, and the economy.

Dr Charles Royal sets out a provocative argument that in the future, all New Zealanders will be able to define themselves as tangata whenua. Race relations commissioner Joris De Bres explores why race relations are of less concern than they were a few years ago, and lays out the detail of a statement - which his office was then about to issue - defining a set of core positions on indigeneity and cultural diversity.

Professor Mason Durie (Professor of Maori Research and Development & Deputy Vice-Chancellor Maori at Massey University) considers that the Treaty has become embedded in the life of the nation, contributing to a spectacular transformation of our society in recent decades. He also argues that it has assumed the role of reflecting how New Zealand values its indigenous people and their participation in society. Dr Matthew Palmer (former Dean of Victoria University of Wellington's Law School and 2005 International Research Fellow of the New Zealand Law Foundation) puts forward the case that as uncertainty is inherent in the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi, it would be worth stabilizing its legal and constitutional place by giving its principles the status of ordinary law for the future, judged by ordinary courts.

Where the Treaty stands at present, and what its likely future will be Justice Eddie Durie, a key figure in the history of the Waitangi Tribunal, explores the way in which the Treaty's meaning has changed since, as a schoolboy, he saw the Maori Battalion returning home to the Manawatu. Political columnist Colin James provocatively describes the Treaty as a fiction in a broad-ranging address which teases out a number of themes to do with identity and rights, looking ahead to a day in which New Zealand becomes a republic.

Maori and the fisheries The Hon. Doug Kidd explores the political and negotiating background to the development of the Sealord Fisheries deal, and Peter Douglas, the head of Te Ohu Kaimoana (The Maori Fisheries Trust), takes the story through to the present day. The Hon. Doug Kidd explores the background to the development of the Sealord Fisheries deal, and Peter Douglas, the head of Te Ohu KaimoanA, takes the story through to the present day.

Apirana Mahuika, the Chairman of Te Runanga o Ngati Porou, and Pat Snedden, an Auckland businessman and consultant, consider the future of the Treaty of Waitangi from the point of view of those involved in putting it into effect with very different organisations.

Joe Williams, Chief Judge and Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal, and Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Head of the Law Commission, consider the future of the Treaty of Waitangi from a legal, constitutional and historical perspective.

The final debate is about constitutional reform, with guests Professor Matthew Palmer of Victoria University of Wellington, and Judge Carrie Wainwright of the Waitangi Tribunal. Judge Wainwright explores in some detail the idea of Treaty principles.

The second debate focuses on the Foreshore and Seabed Act, with lawyer Tim Castle, and Tahu Potiki of Ngai Tahu, analysing the key points of the Act and the changes it has introduced.