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One of the claimants against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is welcoming what she calls a process to develop a new process to give Māori a say on trade negotiations.
Moana Maniapoto says recognises here is an existing partnership or treaty relationship with Māori which needs to be taken into account.
After mediation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade the crown has agreed to support the establishment of a new body,
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga, which can have input into negotiations, including consulting Maori and conducting independent Tiriti impact assessments of proposed trade and investment agreements.
She says the evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal was that such assessments weren’t being done.
"There's big issues at play like data sovereignty, water, climate crisis which are all on the table and these are issues that are at the (Waitangi) tribunal that we need to be ahead of and the crown needs to be cognisant of these – before they even start negotiations we need to have the Māori position with that treaty risk assessment done," Ms Maniapoto says.
One risk is that international agreements like the propose TPPA can have an impact on what lawmakers here can and can’t do.
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