AGM debrief
On 7 November 2023, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga held our inaugural AGM at Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa Marae, Tāmaki Here Waka Drive, Auckland Airport. The results of our elections are below, with the minutes and updated constitution to be published on our website.
Co-convenors: Moana Maniapoto, Pita Tipene (unchanged).
Ngā Kaihautū: Donna Kerridge, Dr George Laking, India Logan-Riley, Dr Jessica Hutchings, Julie Paama-Pengelly, Michelle Paki, Potaua Biasiny-Tule, and Peter-Lucas Jones (unchanged).
Beyond the formalities though, the AGM was an opportunity to bring together Ngā Pūkenga and Ngā Kaihautū for some whakawhanaungatanga and to discuss the kaupapa. In brief, we feel confident in the direction Ngā Toki Whakarururanga is heading as an organisation and we look forward to working on our various projects with Te Puni Kōkiri and the Borrin Foundation (see below). We also had a kōrero with Deputy Secretary for Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Vangelis Vitalis, and we thank him for his time and for his kōrero.
IPEF future uncertain
Over the past year, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has provided intensive Tiriti-based input into the US-driven negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (a US substitute for the TPPA). Most has been confidential, aside from two-page briefings on our website (click the link below). Ministers from the 14 countries were meant to announce IPEF’s conclusion in San Francisco on Monday this week, but political backlash in the US over digital, labour and environment rules has brought the Trade Pillar of the deal to a sudden halt. Next year, 2024, is election year in the US so it remains to be seen if the negotiations will actually go ahead. Meanwhile, what has been negotiated and whether our input had the “meaningful and effective influence” promised in our Mediation Agreement with the Crown, remains secret.
APEC and the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Agreement (IPECTA) in San Francisco
Co-convenor Pita Tipene is this week attending the APEC Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco. As part of his agenda, he will be meeting with other leaders to discuss IPETCA. We wish him all strength in presenting a Tiriti-based kaupapa from Aotearoa, in solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the other APEC countries. We will release a pānui on the event in the coming weeks.
APEC climate protests
Remembering the protests by Māori and others over APEC in Auckland in 1999, we send our solidarity to those protesting in San Francisco against APEC’s corporate-driven agenda and for social justice, climate action, and Indigenous rights.
Election pānui
With coalition talks ongoing between National, ACT, and New Zealand First, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga is mindful that National, in particular, is committed to negotiating more free trade agreements. Once we know who are the new ministers for trade and for foreign affairs, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga will reach out to them, along with other Māori entities, to develop a constructive relationship that is consistent with the Waitangi Tribunal’s Mediation Agreement and our Tiriti-based kaupapa.
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga and the Borrin Foundation
We are excited to announce that Ngā Toki Whakarururanga, with the support of a grant from the Borrin Foundation, is developing two projects that aim to educate Māori to better understand the intersection between free trade policy and rules and two contemporary Tiriti o Waitangi issues: 1) the rangatiratanga/kawanatanga relationship in international trade treaty-making, building on Matike Mai; and 2) Te Taiao and the climate crisis.
We will provide more information about opportunities for engagement as the projects develop.
Farewell, haere rā
A bittersweet farewell to an outgoing Pūkenga, Carrie Stoddart-Smith (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua), who is starting her PhD at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato, alongside her ongoing mahi with OpinioNative.