Retrospective power ‘a can of worms’

Press, 7 February 1985, Page 8

Retrospective power ‘a can of worms’

PA Whangarei The proposal to give the Waitangi Tribunal powers to consider matters back to 1840 would “open the biggest can of worms in the history of New Zealand,” says Mr Matiu Rata, leader of the Mana Motuhake Party. He told a Waitangi hui plenary session on Tuesday evening that in one area alone compensation to rectify land grievances could reach $260 million. “Every State officer and department will be opposed to the bill and there will be great economic consequences,” Mr Rata said. “For this reason this hui should give its total support to the Government for the amendment.” He suggested that the Government should set

aside its departmental advisers in considering the legislative change, and listen to the advice of the Maori people. "This is one of the most profound decisions the hui will take. We must support the alterations proposed for the Waitangi Tribunal to the full,” he said. “The only amendment I would suggest is that the legislation bind the Crown to tribunal decisions.”

A workshop which considered the Treaty of Waitangi Amendment Bill also fully supported the proposed new powers of the Waitangi Tribunal.

It has, however, suggested that the Treaty of Waitangi be embodied in a constitution, not subject to statute law, and to which all legislation must conform before passing into law.

The Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court should be a person of Maori descent, and Maori organisations named in the bill should be consulted before appointments were made to the expanded tribunal. The workshop called for one position on the tribunal to be filled by a representative of the tangata whenua, that at least half of its membership be women, and that regional tribunals be established in each of the Maori Land Court districts. The report also calls for a senate body to be set up between the Waitangi Tribunal and Parliament to enforce decisions of the tribunal and to monitor all legislation which passes through Parliament to ensure its consistency with the spirit and meaning of the treaty.