Sovereignty ‘not negotiable’
Mr Bolger criticised the Waitangi Tribunal for trying to place the New Zealand Government as a foreign Power having to negotiate the issue of sovereignty with a group of its own citizens. Over the Muriwhenua claim the tribunal had taken a narrow, legalistic view that pretended the country had stayed legally frozen at 1840 and had not taken into account the realities of life 150 years on.
“The question of sovereignty cannot be and is not negotiable,” he said. It would be impossible to determine where Maori sovereignty ended and non-Maori sovereignty began, particularly as the sea was seamless, and it would be impossible to determine which particular Maoris should benefit. But Mr Moore said claiming the the Waitangi Tribunal was attacking sovereignty was pointless, as only Parliament- could deal with sovereignty and anything else was irrelevant.
The tribunal had not concluded that the Maoris actually owned the entire inshore fishery, but that an injustice had been done, and it had urged that the resolution of one injustice should not lead to others, he said.
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Press, 16 June 1988, Page 6
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178Sovereignty ‘not negotiable’ Press, 16 June 1988, Page 6
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