February 02, 2015
Thanks ma’am but time’s up


The Queen's representative will this week be asked to tell his boss the results of a hui on Maori sovereignty.
The weekend hui at Otiria marae called by Te Kotahitanga o Nga Hapu o Ngapuhi looked at the implications of the Waitangi Tribunal's finding that Maori did not cede sovereignty.
It heard speeches from treaty lawyers Annette Sykes, Valmai Toki and Moana Jackson, former MP Tukoroirangi Morgan, historian Paul Moon and economist Gareth Morgan.
Ngapuhi kaumatua Patu Hohepa says while the Pakeha pair floundered because they based their arguments on the English version, the other speakers felt the tribunal had got to the essence of the Maori Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
He says the next step happens when Governor General Sir Gerry Mataparae attends Wednesday's treaty signing commemoration at Mangungu on the Hokianga Harbour.
"There will be a letter given to the Governor General to take to the Queen to thank her and the royal family from the time of Victoria for being our protector, leading us from a state of infancy to adulthood, we are now adults and could she now please tell the government and the rest of the world we are now ready to take over for ourselves," he says.
Patu Hohepa says the message to other iwi and the rest of New Zealand coming from the hui is that Te Tiriti describes an ongoing relationship that will not disappear when historical treaty claims are settled.
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