September 20, 2022
Academics chart course for constitution change
Organisers of a conference on New Zealand’s constitution hope it will move the debate forward after years of limited progress.
The Constitutional Kōrero in Auckland in November is billed as a once-in-a decade national wānanga to present options for constitutional transformation to realise Māori rights in te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Whakaputanga and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Claire Charters from the University of Auckland law school says radical change is needed to address fundamental shortcomings in Aotearoa’s constitutional structure.
“I think we all understand that something big needs to happen and that is constitutional. I think sometimes people don’t necessarily appreciate that these reforms are constitutionally constitutional, they’re not tweaks around the edges,” she says.
Dr Charters says keynote speakers include constitutional experts from places such as Norway, Canada, Malaya, and Chile.