Members of the Māori Reference Group on the UK FTA established by the Crown expressed the need for a Tiriti o Waitangi chapter that was pragmatic, had Te Tiriti o Waitangi at its centre, provided for benefits for Māori businesses, and had protections for Māori rights, interests and responsibilities, with Māori participation as Tiriti partners at the table for these matters.
The final text has not addressed those concerns.
Māori Trade And Economic Cooperation (CH 26)
The long “context and purpose” of the chapter repeats the FTA’s Preamble states that Te Tiriti/The Treaty is a foundational document of constitutional importance, but only to NZ; the UK “notes” its role as an original signatory to Te Tiriti/The Treaty but has no obligations today.
Other paragraphs highlight Māori leadership, the relational approach to trade, Mātauranga Māori and Kaupapa Māori methodologies.
But this is not a Tiriti chapter
The chapter is a “first”. The UK’s attitude to Te Tiriti throughout the text shows even this will have been hard won.
But the chapter makes weak promises on cooperation to assist Māori commercial interests participating in trade and investment in the FTA. It says nothing about Māori rights, interests, duties and responsibilities under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and does nothing to protect them from the impacts of the Agreement.
Why are the promises weak?
At first glance, the packaging of the “Māori trade” chapter looks impressive. The chapter is big on rhetoric and short on action. The devil is in the details:
this chapter is only about Māori trade and economic interests. It lists 3 possible areas of cooperation, which could be helpful to Māori business. But says explicitly there is no legal or financial commitment to do any specific activities.
It makes no attempt to address Māori rights, interests, duties and responsibilities under Te Tiriti. And the chapter is unenforceable.
What does the chapter require UK & NZ do do?
It identifies 3 possible “cooperation activities” (Art 26.5):
The devil is in the details:
- Collaborating to enhance Māori-owned enterprises’ ability to access and benefit from opportunities in the FTA;
- Collaborating on developing links between UK and Māori-owned enterprises and entrepreneurs, which“may” include various commercial opportunities, or activities like
- Continuing to support science, research, and innovation links.
NZ “may” invite Māori views and participation in these activities in accord with Tiriti/Treaty “principles”. Cooperation should be implemented for New Zealand, in a manner consistent with Te Tiriti/The Treaty,
and “where appropriate” informed by Te Ao Māori, Mātauranga Māori, and tikanga Māori.
But how do you have UK/NZ “cooperation” where only NZ operates according to Te Tiriti?
The UK doesn’t have to do any of this
None of those activities may actually happen, Not just because the chapter is unenforceable, but because careful wording lets the UK avoid any of them.
NZ and UK “may facilitate” the 3 activities – “may” is not “shall” and “facilitate” is not “conduct”.
- and only where it is “appropriate and practicable” to do so,
- and when one country asks for cooperation on one of these activities
- and both NZ and UK agree on the terms
- and both NZ and UK agree on the details and resources for any cooperation activities
- and that is subject to the resources “available” (ie made available by) to each country
- and using existing ways of organising UK NZ cooperation activities on Māori-related issues.
Just to make sure this is clear, the chapter does “not impose any legal or financial obligations requiring
the Parties to explore, commence or conclude any individual cooperation activities” (Art 26.5, fn 1)