Category: Constitutional Reform
Christmas and New Year! It is a time for relaxation and celebration; a time, too, to reflect on the past year, and wonder about and plan for the days to come. So let us gaze, if not into a crystal ball, at least into the clouds of the future. Perhaps through the clouds we may glimpse the land below occasionally, and sense, however haphazardly, the terrain that awaits us. When I last wrote I imagined the easy steps by which, if we did not rapidly acquire some gumption, we could have a written Treatyist constitution imposed on us without our consent. Let us go further today. Once we had been saddled with such a burden, what would that mean for New Zealand?
In New Zealand, although we have a long and stable democratic tradition, astonishingly, the Government has not ruled out completely bypassing the public over what could become the most radical constitutional change in our history. Instead of guaranteeing that any major constitutional change would only be approved as a result of a binding referendum of voters, it look likely that the majority will be locked out from having a say.
In this article I want to turn to the question of process, and how a country might legitimately change its constitutional arrangements. Let me lay my cards on the table straight up and say this: For a country in today’s democratic era to change its constitution without in any real way asking its own citizens would be a disgrace, the sort of thing one might expect after a military coup in Pakistan or as a consequence of a passing whim of Mr. Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
After a year of operation, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of spending of public money, most New Zealanders still have no idea that a government review of our constitution is underway. Two recently held Focus Groups confirmed that fact. A professional facilitator guided discussion around a series of questions about the state of race relations in New Zealand and the government’s constitutional review. On the issue of race relations, the groups were very well informed. They were emphatic that the Treaty of Waitangi was no longer an historic symbol of unification but had become a political weapon of division. The Waitangi Tribunal was also seen as divisive and backwards looking.
A ‘conversation’. The very word fills me with foreboding. ‘Conversations’ are creatures of the caring classes; the schoolteachers and academics, the higher-paid end of the public service and all the professional carers in charities, lobby groups, trusts and the social sciences; all comfortably off, and all dedicated to their own deadly vision of a truly caring and happy world where they and people just like them intend to be in charge.
The Independent Constitutional Review website at ConstitutionalReview.org will be the focal point for our campaign. It contains a wide range of background information - on the constitution, the plans by the iwi elite to gain constitutional status, the government’s deceitful review process, and what it all means for our future. The website outlines numerous ways that supporters can get involved and help, including how to donate to the campaign and how to volunteer and assist.
I think it would be a disaster for New Zealand to move to a written constitution of the sort almost certain to be offered. And I would run a mile from incorporating or entrenching the Treaty into any such instrument, not least because overwhelmingly no one knows what it means when applied to any specific issue. So all you will be buying is the views of the top judges, instead of your own, the voters. That’s not a trade I would ever make.
Jobs and higher incomes are the reasons usually given for increasing numbers of New Zealanders crossing the ditch to settle in Australia. A net 40,000 moved there in the year to the end of August. While greener pastures are undoubtedly a key factor, it is highly likely that racial issues are also causing the flight of Kiwis. Weary of a political environment that encourages an aggressive mixed-race minority to make unreasonable demands against taxpayers, fed-up Kiwis have had enough!
New Zealand has reached a defining moment in race relations. On one hand, the aggressive demands of iwi for ownership rights to water, wind, and other natural elements that are public good resources, are not only without foundation, but are now preventing you from governing according to your electoral mandate. And on the other hand, the promoters of Maori sovereignty – which includes members of the Maori Party - are pushing ahead with their plan to replace New Zealand’s constitution with one based on the Treaty of Waitangi as supreme law. As you will be aware, this move would give un-elected Judges superior powers over our elected Members of Parliament.
In any mature society, the issue of having, abiding by or amending, a country’s constitution is of national significance and importance. This facet of national life determines not only how political power will be exercised but also how it will be kept in check - matters of profound significance and therefore to be exercised with great diligence and care. A constitution is the source of ultimate or supreme law of a country, to which all other legislation is subservient.
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