Green Party MP imnofox wants to put their Māori policies front and centre this election, and for the party to be a strong voice for Māori issues. says the host.

“The Green Party is built on a foundation of recognising te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand, recognising Māori as tangata whenua in Aotearoa- that is the first point of our charter. And we need to bring that to all corners of parliament. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is frequently ignored or treated as some historical museum piece, rather than the living and current founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand.” says imnofox.

“So do ensure that it is at the forefront of all of parliament’s decisions, we need to do a few things. Firstly, we’ve got to entrench te Tiriti o Waitangi in legislation, so that is clearly party of our constitutional makeup through law. Secondly, we need to make sure all legislation meets the principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi. We do that with the Bill of Rights Act- the Attorney General’s office has to report back on any new legislation to state whether or not it complies with the Bill of Rights Act. So we want to require Te Puni Kōkiri to review any legislation put before the house, and have TPK report back on any inconsistencies with te Tiriti o Waitangi. This means the government’s obligations under te Tiriti o Waitangi simply can’t be ignored, as many governments have done in the past.” says imnofox.

The Green MP also wants to see some changes to the treaty settlement process. says the host.

“I think we’ve also got to stop the ‘full and final’ settlements, just to allow settlements to be revisited where situations have since changed, or claimants were shut out of the original negotiations. It’s a mistake to treat a settlement as totally settled, things can change- the treaty isn’t about settling, te tiriti must be honoured. On that same vein, we’ve got to scrap the Crown’s requirement to only negotiate with larger groups, which shuts hapū and smaller iwi out of the process- when they may have different concerns and different issues. That current requirement highlights how governments are in the business of settling grievances quick and fast to get them out of the way, rather than trying to honour te tiriti and adequately address all grievances. We’ve also got to require claims to be settled only with the agreement of the original claimant, otherwise it’s not really settled.” says imnofox.

*Not only is imnofox focussing on te Tiriti and the settlement process, he also wants to make progress on the social front.” continues the host.

“In 2017 the National Party reformed our Child, Young Persons, and their Families law, and one of the things that they did was scrap the whanau first approach for tamariki Māori, putting a state knows best approach to the placement of Māori kids. This country’s history is unfortunately rich of tamariki Māori being taken from families, severed from their whakapapa, and causing long term harm for them as a result. And when over 60% of children in state care being Māori? That is concerning. We have to acknowledge the vital role of tikanga in the protection of tamariki Māori, not treating it as a roadblock. Change happens through relationships of trust.”

Whether the Greens take government or not is yet to be seen, but there’s little doubt that the party will hold both of the Māori seats. Will Māori voters reward them again this election? We’ll just have to wait and find out. closes the host.