Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the guiding light

Think Piece by Charm Skinner, Te Ao Māori Policy Analyst   

Aotearoa. Land of the long white cloud.

A country celebrated internationally as clean, green and progressive.

Yet when it comes to our founding constitutional document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, things become murky and misconceptions start to distort our international image.

Too often, conversations around Te Tiriti are centred on the idea that it is only relevant to Māori.

This is not true.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a human rights document and while it guarantees Māori tino rangatiratanga (absolute authority, including self- determination), it also places very clear expectations and obligations on the Crown to govern in ways that protect wellbeing, uphold dignity and ensure fairness for everyone.

This is what we call human rights and they extend to all of us.

The right to live with dignity. The right to adequate housing, food and health. The right to participate fully in society.

These human rights are not new ideas added to Te Tiriti. They’re a direct expression of Te Tiriti and are embedded within it, allowingeveryone to experience the full protection of those rights.

When those rights are not realised, it is a failure of human rights and a failure of upholding Te Tiriti.

Te Tiriti sets out a framework requiring:

• Kāwanatanga, governance rights and responsibilities of the Crown to govern;
• Tino rangatiratanga, absolute authority of Māori over all taonga, their lives and futures;
• Ōritetanga, equity and equality in outcomes; through
• Partnership and decision-making grounded in good faith and mutual respect.

These are not privileges for a few. They are the foundations of a fair society, one that works better for everyone.

Te Tiriti sets the standard for how everyone in Aotearoa should be treated. The rights and obligations it sets, belong to all of us, shaping the fairness of our systems, the dignity afforded to every person and the responsibility of those who govern.

Understanding this starts with education and knowing the true history of Aotearoa and what has happened to tangata whenua. Not a sanitised version, but the full picture of what was promised, what was taken and what was never upheld. That history belongs to all of us and it’s not up to Māori to explain or justify it to others.

The Crown’s role is not a neutral one. It is an active role and it must ensure people do not experience disadvantage and that inequity is addressed.

So when people go without the basics and outcomes consistently show us how the system is failing to deliver fairness, that is not just a Māori issue. It is a breach of the obligations Te Tiriti established and a breach of everyone’s human rights.

We see this every day in our work.

In Te Ope Whakaora, more than 40 percent of the people we support are Māori and what we see on the ground mirrors what the data tells us. More than half of Māori households experience food insecurity and one in four tamariki live in hardship. The impacts of these inequalities compound across health, education and wellbeing, entrenching disadvantage across generations.

This is what it looks like when the promises of Te Tiriti are not upheld.

Yet, rather than moving toward those promises, we are seeing deliberate steps away from them.

In recent years, we have seen deliberate attempts to sideline Te Tiriti through legislation that weakens partnership, ignores inequity and removes human rights obligations from decision-making.

Through our submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, we have raised serious concerns about approaches that weaken tino rangatiratanga, dismiss lived inequities and strip Te Tiriti and human rights frameworks from policy altogether.

When Te Tiriti is reduced to ‘equal treatment for all’ it ignores the fact that people don’t start from the same position. It abandons the responsibility to actively address disadvantage and risks deepening the very division it claims to resolve.

This is the contradiction at the heart of our current discourse. Te Tiriti is being challenged at the same time its relevance has never been clearer.

This is not about competing rights. It is about whether we are willing to build a society where everyone genuinely has what they need to live well and thrive.

The path forward is Kotahitanga, togetherness, but not a unity that ignores injustice. Not the kind of unity that asks Māori to set aside their rights for the comfort of others, but the kind built on honesty, shared understanding and collective responsibility.

It means acknowledging the truth of our history and the inequities that continue from it. It means recognising Te Tiriti for what it is, a framework for a fair and just society. It means all of us, tangata whenua and tauiwi alike, taking responsibility for the kind of Aotearoa we want for our tamariki and mokopuna.

The framework for this future already exists. Te Tiriti has always provided it.

At Te Ope Whakaora, our Kawenata guides our Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations. It is not symbolic. It honours the covenants and the history of the Christian churches’ involvement at the signing of Te Tiriti in a biblically based covenant. The Kawenata means living these obligations across every arm of our organisation in practice, not just in principle.

Too often, partnership is treated as something that happens at the end. But genuine partnership starts at the beginning, at the design table, before decisions are made. It means tangata whenua having genuine voice where it matters with proper resources to support that voice to influence decisions that benefit our most vulnerable Māori whānau and communities.

Our data tells us where the need is. It shows us clearly where support is required and it is up to us to ensure our teams have the tools to make a real impact. It is up to us to do our Kawenata justice and that means we need to be honest. Having a Kawenata does not mean we have met our Te Tiriti obligations, but it does mean we recognise them. Meeting those obligations is an on-going journey requiring honesty about where we are and what we need to do together to move forward.

Doing things equitably builds trust and trust enables us to move forward together.

It’s not always easy. It requires reflection, honest change, a willingness to sit with discomfort and invite others to the decision-making table.

When we honour Te Tiriti across our organisation, outcomes improve for everyone, not just Māori.

Our founders William and Catherine Booth confronted injustice head-on and refused to leave people behind. That same call exists today and we are answering it.

We have the opportunity to lead by example, to show our communities, our sector and our country what it looks like to truly walk alongside people, share power and build systems grounded in equity and fairness.

Because systems built this way benefit everyone. The framework exists and is abundantly clear in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The communities we serve are not looking for more words. They want organisations willing to do the hard work and to back it up. That is the standard we must hold ourselves to.  It is clear change is needed. Are we willing to lead it?