The Green Party is calling for ‘Land Back’ - the return of stolen land and a revisit of Treaty Settlements.
On Waitangi Day, the Greens released Hoki Whenua Mai, a discussion document that aims to provide support for iwi and hapū who were dispossessed from their lands that are now in private hands.
Announced by co-leader Marama Davidson, Hoki Whenua Mai outlines what the Crown should do to redress the ongoing injustices of the Treaty settlement process.
The Green Party has proposed four areas for reform in Hoki Whenua Mai:
- An inquiry into the dispossession of whenua
- Revisiting settlements for the adequacy of redress
- Additional redress at the level of whānau, hapū and Māori collectives, outside the Treaty settlement process
- Enabling the Crown to return land that is not owned by the Crown.
Speaking to Re: News, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said now is the time to act on these solutions.
“Land back is about claiming our responsibilities and our roles as rightful owners and kaitiaki of our own whenua, our wai, our maunga, our ngāhere, and our people and communities,” Davidson said.
“We are merely showing some tangible solutions for how that could actually happen and I'm really proud of it.”
“It’s been a long time coming but we are finally seeing support across the treaty partnership, not just from Māori,” she said.
“Our people have been debating this for nearly 200 years since the treaty, we're ready to actually do it now. And apparently so are some tauiwi,” Davidson said.
“I just finished responding to a young Pākahā who feels unsettled that she's likely going to inherit some land.
“She is already really keen on an avenue to be able to have first right of refusal for Māori, for tangata whenua.
“She’s also keen for the government to facilitate that and buy that back at a government value, not an overinflated exploited market value.”
That kind of support from tauiwi was vital in this discussion, Davidson said
“It’s about achieving a more equitable country for all.”
‘The Crown itself is the biggest thief of Māori land’
Wellington City Councillor Tamatha Paul said she was grateful that the Green Party was challenging the Treaty Settlement process.
“It's hard to challenge them, especially when so many kaumātua have worked tirelessly on those settlements. But settlements really are tricky because they do extinguish a lot of rights that have been fought for Māori land through the Waitangi Tribunal,” Paul said.
“It's really sad as well to see the way that settlements rarely help because there just isn't enough resources for iwi to meet their aspirations and dreams for their uri (descendants).”
“There's no doubt that whenua is the economic basis of our sovereignty,” the 24-year-old said
Looking at the historical theft of Māori land and the ongoing theft of Maori land, that was connected to issues facing Aotearoa today, Paul said.
“Especially around the housing crisis, and the fact that a minority in New Zealand are accumulating so much wealth from stolen land.”
“The Crown itself is the biggest thief of Māori land,” she said.
“Before even starting the messy process of getting land back from private ownership, the Crown has plenty of stolen land that it can begin by setting an example and giving that back to iwi and hapū,” Paul said.
She said it was good to be having these conversations about the settlement process.
“Because it's a fuss really, you don't ever settle on Te Tiriti. It's a living document that has to be honoured all the time, and into the future, not something that has settled and moved on from.”
The next generation
Safari Hynes, a 21-year-old Te Reo Māori and Law student, says the Green Party has “scored the silver bullet into what has been a big issue of the Treaty settlement process, which is the government being unwilling to return private land”.
Prioritising the future and moving forward is a big thing for Hynes.
“What excites me the most about our people is getting into this post-settlement era, so we're not constantly having to fight the Crown or trying to get them to give back stuff that we know they'll never give back,” Hynes said.
Inquiries into how Māori were dispossessed of whenua and revisiting Treaty settlements will bring some fruit but Hynes said he does not want Māori to always remain in grievance mode.
“The real rangatiratanga is in stepping away from the Crown and saying we can do this without you. Whatever mechanisms, whatever whakaaro, whether it's working directly with private landowners, is the way to realise that, then that's what we do because that's the future.”
“We have 18 years to practice that in time for 200 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where we will be able to fully step to the side and say to the Crown, ‘we can entirely stand on our own’.”
Top Image: Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw. (File photo) Photo: Supplied
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