December 26, 2018
Bastion Point beacon for journey through law
A retiring professor of law at the University of Auckland says his involvement with the Ōrākei Māori Action Committee and the Bastion Point Occupation of 1987 and 1988 was the stand out event in his life.
Last week’s poroporaki for Professor David Williams at the University’s Waipapa Marae was attended by a number of supporters from Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, including occupation leader Joe Hawke and his whānau and two daughters of the late Sir Hugh Kawharu.
Professor Williams says even though the 1975 Māori Land March highlighted the loss of Māori land, it was still an audacious step to demand the return of a specific piece of land in that way.
He’s optimistic about continued progress, even though it seems a constant battle to get the crown to take its obligations seriously.
The new Māori Crown Relations portfolio, Te Arawhiti, will be a chance to build new relationships and create a new constitutional space.
Professor Williams will retain his office at the university as a research fellow.
His projects include preparing a paper about redress in the treaty settlement process for a conference in South Africa, and looking into who has underlying title to land in Aotearoa New Zealand and why.
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