This article was first published on RNZ.
The reviewers of all Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation include three lawyers and a director, and will be expected to report back “within months”.
New Zealand First secured the commitment to a comprehensive review of all legislation (except when it is related to, or substantive to, existing full and final Treaty settlements) that includes “The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty, or repeal the references” in its coalition deal with National.
The creation of the group has been led by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who is also the Treaty Negotiations Minister.
His office confirmed former Waitangi Tribunal member David Cochrane would chair the review group, which also includes Marama Royal, James Christmas and John Walters.
They would be “reporting back in the next few months”.
Cochrane is a Wellington-based lawyer who has been practising public and commercial law since the 1980s, has worked on the Parliamentary Counsel which drafts legislation, and has been a member of the Law Society’s Reform Committee and the Legislation Advisory Committee.
Royal (Ngāti Whātua ki Tāmaki) is a former public servant and chairs - or is a member of - several boards including Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust, Pou Take Āhuarangi under the National Iwi Chairs Forum, the Variety children’s charity, Sky City Community Trust and several Māori or community trusts.
She previously worked for the Courts and Ministry of Justice, and was last year named a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Christmas is a lawyer and former senior advisor to then-Attorney General Christopher Finlayson, who was also Treaty Negotiations Minister in the John Key government.
He also advised Sir John and his successor as Prime Minister, Sir Bill English.
Christmas stood for National as a list-only candidate at 28th in 2023, missing out on a seat in Parliament partly as a result of the party’s success in electorate races.
John Walters is a founding partner at his law firm Walters Law, specialising in property, commercial and trust law, serving clients including large corporates and businesses, Māori Trusts and iwi, and acted as a Treaty claims negotiator for his iwi Te Aupōuri.
In a report based on hearings in early May last year on the proposed review, alongside its consideration of the Treaty Principles Bill, the Waitangi Tribunal said the outcomes of the review were pre-determined and the Crown had not acted in good faith by failing to consult with Māori on it.
The review would likely remove or narrow Treaty clauses in the law, the Tribunal said, impacting Māori rights and breaching the principles of partnership, active protection, equity, redress, good government and the article 2 guarantee of rangatiratanga.
The Tribunal recommended putting the review on hold until it could be reconceptualised through collaboration with Māori.
The review will examine about 28 pieces of legislation dating back to 1986.
New Zealand First’s 2023 election manifesto included no mention of the Treaty, but the party has a long-standing view that the Treaty was what first formed New Zealand as a nation, but it does not have principles - and to try to define principles will not push the country forward.
During a media conference last Monday, Goldsmith said the review was underway and a panel had been appointed to give initial advice.
“There’s about 20 pieces of legislation that we’re looking at... over years we’ve developed a whole lot of references, a wide variety of phrases that have been interpreted very broadly by some government departments and other places. And so we want to be clearer about what we do, and what we don’t mean.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters interjected that, “if they should be there they’ll be there, and if they shouldn’t be there they won’t be there”.
By Russell Palmer of RNZ.
