Listen Now: 
October 15, 2013
Council waiting for call in urgent hearing
Waatea Team
Posted On October 15, 2013
The New Zealand Maori Council is looking forward to having its claim against the Government's plans for it heard by the Waitangi Tribunal.
The council lodged the claim after Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples initiated consultation on proposed changes to the Maori Community Development Act, which sets the rules for Maori councils and Maori wardens.
Maori Land Court Judge Karen Fox has asked the Government for a response, and she will then decide if the claim should be given an urgent hearing.
Council co-chair Maanu Paul says the Government has failed to recongise the council not as a creation of the Crown but as an expression of Maori self-government with a legacy stretching back to the runanga and wardens set up in the 1800s by the Kingitanga.
He says no change can happen without the New Zealand Maori Council being involved.
"The present move by the government, to force through the changes for the Maori Community Development Act where the government is only putting one side and not giving the Maori Council an opportunity to put its side, is a breach of the treaty. Maori has to determine its own self government. The government can't do it for Maori," he says
Maanu Paul says the Government is ignoring the obligaton to negotiate in good faith and reasonableness, as happened in the past with treaty issues like land, forestry, fisheries, te reo Maori and broadcast spectrum.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
