Crown settlement policy promotes ‘tyranny of the majority’

The Prime Minister has spelt out that, for her government, treaty settlements are all about numbers – and in election year, that means it’s all about votes,” according to Te Ururoa Flavell.

He was responding to Helen Clark’s comments, on Watea News this morning, that the government will settle in favour of a majority, despite opposition from other legitimate claimants.

“Iwi have long understood that the tyranny of the majority is a threat to democracy,” said Te Ururoa. “Tangata whenua have sought unity in diversity, where the status and rights of iwi and hapu are all respected.”

“The Prime Minister has made quite clear that ‘majority rules’ is the philosophy driving the Treaty settlement process, which pits the legitimate claims of some iwi and hapu against the equally legitimate claims of others,” he said.

“The PM says that sometimes the iwi and hapu don’t get their own act together to meet the Crown’s timetable. What she can’t accept is that each iwi and hapu has their own mana – and they will collaborate in their own interests, given a chance.

“But the Crown’s demand for bulk deals with large groupings of claimants is causing the worst divisions. Trampling on the status and rights of any iwi or hapu is creating huge new grievances, as the Waitangi Tribunal has said many times.”

“The Prime Minister says claimants are better off taking whatever is on offer. Many negotiators would agree that anything is better than nothing, But that doesn’t mean the settlement process or quantum is based on fairness or justice.

“We are sick of the Crown’s divisive tactics, spelt out in the Prime Minister’s comments, which are designed to stampede iwi into rip-off deals.

“If our tikanga have no place in the Crown’s vote-catching policy of majority rules, then perhaps our people should study the Crown’s tikanga, which is that any Maori, or descendant of a Maori, can make a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.

“Given the government’s smug ‘take it or leave it’ attitude, and with the cut-off date for lodging historical claims fast approaching, I encourage every ‘Maori or descendant of a Maori’ to lodge a claim, to see if the Crown will take it or leave it - and then they can consider their options,” he said.