December 12, 2023
Luxon cool on Te Paparahi o te Raki recommendations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has poured cold water on a Waitangi Tribunal report recommending constitutional change.
The Te Paparahi o Te Raki – stage two report, released to Ngāpuhi claimants at the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi on Saturday, recommends all Crown-owned land in Te Tai Tokerau be returned to claimants, and for the Crown to enter talks about reworking New Zealand’s constitutional framework.
It follows 2014’s stage one report which found by signing the Treaty of Waitangi Ngāpuhi did not cede authority to make and enforce law over their people or their territories.
Mr Luxon says it’s unlikely the government will take on the recommendations.
“It’s a 2000-page report so, we do need some time to digest it and understand what’s in it. Secondly I’d say to you is, we’re not really up for relitigating that the government has the right to govern and the crown has the right to govern. But we’re also wanting to work with Ngāpuhi because when they’re ready we’d like to close out treaty settlements with them,” he says.
The report was presented to Ngāpuhi on Saturday by the Waitangi Tribunal at the Waitangi Treaty grounds.
The Prime Minister says he has confidence in Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith to work with Ngāpuhi in spite of his earlier comments on colonisation being good for Māori.