On 9 July, an FTA between Aotearoa and the European Union was signed. As part of our mandate, we prepared a Te Tiriti o Waitangi assessment of the FTA. We found that:
The Crown continues to exceed its authority as kāwanatanga in the negotiation of trade agreements and deny Māori the right to exercise our rangatiratanga in the process, the content and the implementation of this FTA. Despite some improvements over previous agreements, the NZ EU FTA does not promote and protect the rights, interests, duties and responsibilities of Māori in a Te Tiriti-compliant manner and offers minimal, if any, concrete economic benefits to Māori businesses and workers.
Co-convenor Pita Tipene welcomed moves by the Crown, and trade officials, to start taking their obligations to Māori more seriously. “But we found they still have a long way to go to ensure the trade and trade related policy space delivers what was promised in Te Tiriti.”
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Red lines for Te Taiao and Climate in a new US trade deal
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has prepared 2-page briefings for each round of a new US-led trade negotiation: the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), and MFAT has distributed them to the other countries. For this week’s round in South Korea our briefing was on Te Taiao (ecosystem) and the climate crisis.
We said:
- The Crown must honour its Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations to Māori within the IPEF to ensure Māori can exercise rangatiratanga (authority) over taonga that make up the ecosystem of Aotearoa;
- Māori and other Indigenous Peoples affected by IPEF must early access to text during all the drafting stages to enable effective and genuine input;
- We are sceptical at over-reliance on “solutions” to the climate crisis that rely on economic incentives, carbon markets, and technological innovations
- We urge IPEF parties to endorse and adopt the model of ethical trade that underpin Indigenous Peoples’ relationships to both trade and environment and empower us to lead that model;
- we implore IPEF parties to redress the exclusion of Māori and Indigenous Peoples in both the negotiations and the final institutional arrangements.
TPPA/CPTPP fails the Tiriti test – great hui at Waikato shows why
Over Matariki weekend the Government is hosting a meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) (the TPPA after the US left). The TPPA is what the Wai 2522 Tribunal claim was all about.
he Agreement is 5 years old and up for review. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has worked with MFAT to co-design the Indigenous Peoples’ section of the Aotearoa New Zealand Review, and our memorandum setting out the CPTPP’s Tiriti failures is attached to their report.
Co-convenor Moana Maniapoto will speak to the CPTPP leaders and jointly report back on a hui at Waikato where panel after panel presented Kaupapa Māori perspectives on what Tiriti-based agreements should look like. Speaking for Ngā Toki Whakarururanga on the concluding panel, Maui Solomon made it clear that:
The Agreement is 5 years old and up for review. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has worked with MFAT to co-design the Indigenous Peoples’ section of the Aotearoa New Zealand Review, and our memorandum setting out the CPTPP’s Tiriti failures is attached to their report.
Co-convenor Moana Maniapoto will speak to the CPTPP leaders and jointly report back on a hui at Waikato where panel after panel presented Kaupapa Māori perspectives on what Tiriti-based agreements should look like. Speaking for Ngā Toki Whakarururanga on the concluding panel, Maui Solomon made it clear that:
Our worldview and perspectives on these matters are crucial to bring a much needed and unique balance to these discussions and negotiations. That is why it is important for Māori and Indigenous Peoples to have a seat and a voice around the negotiating tables. This is what Te Tiriti promised Māori – tino rangatiratanga me o rātou taonga katoa
Ngā mihi
A warm welcome to our new Te Hiwa, Ben Morgan (Ngāti Awa, Te Patuwai). Ben recently completed his LL.M., at Harvard and is looking forward to working with Ngā Toki Whakarururanga.
And a bittersweet farewell to our outgoing Te Hiwa, Holly Reynolds (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Maniapoto) who is heading to the US to complete her LL.M., at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). We wish Holly all the best with her studies.