The Treaty Of Waitangi: Implications For New Zealand's Social Policy

The Treaty of Waitangi

The paper analyses the Waitangi Treaty and the implication of the treaty in social policy. The Treaty of Waitangi is one of the New Zealand’s founding documents. The name of the treaty is been taken from the place in New Zealand in the bay of islands where it was signed first on February 6, 1840. This treaty is basically an agreement that was made between the M?ori rangatira and the crown of British. The treaty is made in both languages which are in English and M?ori. The treaty proposed the protection of the rights of the M?ori tribe which come immediately as the British crown annexed New Zealand. The negotiation was done by the Britain designation of counsel and William Hobson who was lieutenant governor, apart from them the leading chief of M?ori have also participated in the negotiation (O’Sullivan et al., 2021).

M?ori are indigenous to New Zealand, have historic ties, and have narratives to Polynesia. The signing of the treaty was the confirmation of the settlement of the Europeans. The debate started arising from William Hobson as the governor on the behalf of the crown British and the chiefs as they have different understandings and the expectation as to what have they signed and exercised of their authority. There are two versions of the treaty they are Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty of Waitangi but both have different meanings. At the time the dominant language was Te Reo M?ori and most of the discussions were conducted orally. The treaty allows the chief that the queen as the nominal and delegated authority that the queen can control the people (Walker et al., 2018).

The treaty has three articles one where the tribe of M?ori accepted the British queen's sorveginity in their land. The second one is that the crown protects the M?ori and that the crown has exclusive rights to purchase lands of M?ori. The final and the third article referred to as the British had full rights for the signatories of the M?ori tribe. Following the treaty of Waitangi Britain annexed the entire north island of New Zealand and also the south island as they have the right of discovery. The treaty was supposed to protect the tribe from the private land purchases on a large scale this private purchase of land would have disrupted the society of New Zealand. This treaty remained effective until 1862 (Lawson-Te Aho et al., 2019).

However this treaty has serious shortcomings in the practice, there was dissatisfaction among the M?ori which was because the crown could not buy or afford to buy much land and the land which the crown bought was eventually sold out to the other European countries which the crown eventually got substantial profits. There was also dissatisfaction among the immigrants the British that were angered by the land profits of the government and that there was a scarcity of land. Among all these dissatisfaction there was also intercultural and intercultural tension which resulted in the warfare in 1844-47 and the wars of New Zealand in 1860. The treaty and land selling article ceased to be operative with the Native Land Act of 1862 which again provided the purchase of the M?ori land by the private players. Since 1960 6 February is celebrated as the Waitangi Day in entire New Zealand on the occasion of thanksgiving (Hersoug, 2018).

Implications for New Zealand's Social Policy

There was the rise of the king moment was seen after the British government took the formal control of New Zealand in 1840.  The settlement of the European and the government began to Alam the north island of M?ori. Around 1845 the chieftains of the tribe of M?ori fought the first M?ori war in the bay of islands and they were not suppressed until 1847 by the forces of colonial under the leadership of Sir George Grey, he bought the peace which lasted from 1847 to 1860.  This king moment was seen as a response by the M?ori tribe which was increasing the threat to the land of the M?ori. In the response to the threat, several tribes of the Waikato area of the island of the north elected Te Wherowhero, as their king in 1857. Apart from electing a M?ori also established a council of state which was a judicial system and an organization of police. These all measures were intended to support the land and stop intertribal warfare (Brooking, 2018).

Until 1860 the M?ori still owns most of the land after that due to the large number of immigrants which resulted in the demand for the land which was purchased largely by the government. And the traditional M?ori was determined not to sell the land. In the year 1860-to 1861, there was a war named as First Taranaki War which was fought one the M?ori tribe sold the land near the Waitara River to the colonial government (Campbell & Cuthers, 2021).

The fundaments of the Waitangi treaty are the set of policies and laws derived from the treaty of Waitangi. These principles were partly, to reconcile the difference between M?ori and English, which allows the treaty a contemporary context. These principles of the treaty are mostly mentioned in the New Zealand politics of contemporary (Came et al., 2018).

The principles of the treaty in 1989 are as follows, The Principle of Kawanatanga , or the government principle this is the article first of the treaty, according to this treaty the crown gets the right to make the laws and obligation to help to govern in the process of the constitution. This principle is the balance between the one and two articles, in the exchange of the sovereignty to accord the interests of the Maori for the crown protection. The principle emphasized the right to make the rule and govern is by the government (Bean, 2018).

The second principle is The Rangatiratanga Principle or known as the principle of self-management. This allows the Maori the enjoyment and control of their resources and grants them the wish to retain them. Resources are preserved, there will be the rebuilding of the self management and there will be the protection of both culture and material. These will be all mandatory under the policy of the crown. The government recognizes the court of appeal for the active participation, and the key concept of the Rangatiratanga Principle was that the iwi has the right to organize as an iwi which will be under the law that they can protect their resources on their own (Ward et al., 2018).

The Treaty of Waitangi Articles

The Equality Principle is the article three of the treaty which grants equality to the Maori tribe and the New Zeland citizen legally. This is because all the citizens of New Zealand have equality before the law. This law also incorporates international law as human rights. This article has both social significance and the rights assurance of social would be applied by the people of Maori. The purpose of the treaty was to grant social benefits by international law (O’Sullivan, 2021).

The fourth principle is the Principle of Cooperation this is seen as the fairness given to all people in a country. Unity and duality are most important. The term duality here implies the distinctive development of the culture and the term unity defines as finding the common purpose of the community. And this relationship is governed by the cooperation which is used and obliged to both the parties by the treaty. Cooperation which is reasonable comes as consultation on the major issues concerning. All balance, common sense, and  faith are shown on all sides of cooperation. Therefore the outcome of the cooperation is an effective partnership (Lythberg et al., 2021).

The fifth and final principle is the Principle of Redress in which there is acceptance of the responsibility which is by the process of resolution of the grievances which arrive from the treaty. However, this process involves the courts, direct negotiation, or the Waitangi Tribunal. The redress provision is entitled where the establishment must take into account the impact practically and their creation of fresh injustice is avoided. Wheater the crown is demonstrated by the commitment to the redress process and the crown is expected to reconcile with the result (Wynyard, 2019).

This treaty of the Waitangi and its principles have a huge impact on the legislature and has been enacted in various situations. These principles were, in particular, helped in the issues regarding the land and other social, political, and legal aspects. These principles thus have a major influence on the decision making process and it has a strong influence on the law. Fisheries Act 1983, State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986,  Environment Act 1986, Conservation Act 1987, Crown Minerals Act 1991,  Resource Management Act 1991, and Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 all these acts have the influenced by the legislature (MacDonnell & Hughes, 2021).

The treaty has the following impact on today's world, respect means treating other people with consideration, respect implies that it doesn’t necessarily mean two people are the same and they share some food and activities. This treaty was a contract of respect between the M?ori and the Britishers, they now imply that there should be respect between the non-M?ori and M?ori. Therefore it is more important that the rules and laws are considered and respected for both the non-M?ori and M?ori ways of living. Trust between both the groups that the groups will do what the contract will say as a  trust. Those who trust the British and vice versa, the M?ori who trusted the British that they would laws that would be better for both the sellers and buyers (Borrows, 2019).

Shortcomings of the Treaty of Waitangi

Ever since the treaty was signed, the tribe has been going to both the governments of New Zealand and Britain. They wanted that the treaty to be honored. the Waitangi Tribunal now claims that what the government did in the past was not better for the tribe Maori. The claims made by the tribe are not only about the land but that the government also allowed the pollution of the river, sea, and land. They have also made claims about the M?ori language, education, and fishing laws (Mutu, 2019).

The Waitangi Tribunal, The Government, and M?ori all are trying to make the wrong, the right which was broken as what the treaty has promised.  All are trying to build a better future for the M?ori and better understanding. A huge amount of land which was taken from the tribe at that time is now owned by the non tribe. Therefore the government must find a balance between the tribe and non tribe And a solution to the existing problems which will be fair to everyone (Mutu, 2019).

In light of the above discussion, it can be concluded that The Treaty of Waitangi is one of the New Zealand founding documents. This treaty is basically an agreement that was made between the M?ori rangatira and the crown of British. The treaty proposed the protection of the rights of the M?ori tribe which come immediately as the British crown annexed New Zealand. The treaty has three articles one where the tribe of M?ori accepted the British queen's sovreignity in their land. The treaty was supposed to protect the tribe from the private land purchases on a large scale this private purchase of land would have disrupted the society of New Zealand. However this treaty has serious shortcomings in the practice, there was dissatisfaction among the M?ori which was because the crown could not buy or afford to buy much land and the land which the crown bought was eventually sold out to the other European countries by which the crown eventually got substantial profits. Until 1860 the M?ori still owns most of the land after that due to the large number of immigrants which resulted in the demand for the land which was purchased largely by the government. According to this treaty the crown gets the right to make the laws and obligation to help to govern in the process of the constitution.

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