From a national hui of iwi held in
February, a Working Group on Constitutional Transformation
has been brought together by Professor Margaret Mutu and
Moana Jackson and met over the past weekend at Waipapa Marae
at the University of Auckland. The purpose of the group is
to engage with Maori and to work on developing a model
constitution for our country based on Maori kawa and
tikanga, He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Niu Tireni
and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The group have agreed that the
process must be “for Maori, by Maori” and that they will
issue an invitation to meet with the Government once a
satisfactory model has been agreed to by Maori.
Professor
Mutu states “The group is aware that the Crown has
recently instigated a ‘Constitutional Review’. We have
made it clear that the Crown is not in a position to speak
for Māori on this matter. Māori debate on the
constitution has been with us for at least several decades
now and a lot of work has already been done. It is great to
think that we already have a solid foundation by which to
base our response from.”
Convenor of the group, Moana
Jackson, adds “We are asking that our people bring with
them their thoughts and ideas about what they believe our
tipuna anticipated when they agreed to He Whakaputanga and
Te Tiriti. It requires our people to think about what kawa
and tikanga our tipuna lived by and how we might be able to
give a voice to those belief systems via a constitution. It
also involves asking our people to “Think outside the
Westminster System” and imagine a world that appreciates
Maori processes and
values”.
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