Treaty issues need to be ‘monitored’
By
JANE ENGLAND
The possibility of establishing a second Parliament for Maori people, giving court powers to the Waitangi Tribunal or entrenching the treaty as a constitution, formed the basis of discussions on the need for a treaty-monitoring body, the Parliamentary Environmental report revealed. x „
“A combination of more than one of these could give greater assurance that the terms and the principles of the treaty are adhered to by the Crown,” said “Te Kaitiaki Taiao,” the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Mrs Helen Hughes. Her statement, was in an 118-page report on Crown responses to Waitangi Tribunal recommendations from 1983-1988, titled “Environmental Management and the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.” The three suggestions were made during discussions on the possible legal status of a new body to oversee the Government’s
ent agency, as well as the Minister responsible for the Crown response.” None of the existing Parliamentary officers, the Auditor-General, Ombusdmen, or Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment had a clear mandate to overview the Crown response to tribunal recommendations. The Commissioner had a restricted budget, a broad mandate and competing priorities. The Commissioner recommended that an indpendent body should be set up under those guidelines with the legal role of monitoring the Crown’s performance on treaty issues.
response to tribunal recommendations. Other proposals endorsed recommendatory influence rather than statutory powers for the new body. That a commission, Maori cabinet or standing committee be established, a Maori Ombudsman appointed or monitoring be retained under the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Without organised monitoring it was impossible to fully understand which breaches of the treaty had been redressed and which remained unresolved, Mrs Hughes said. “There is an advantage in a monitoring function resting with an independ-
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Press, 7 December 1988, Page 36
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293Treaty issues need to be ‘monitored’ Press, 7 December 1988, Page 36
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