Aotearoa New Zealand has had a treaty in place for almost two centuries but it wasn't until the 1970s that it was truly honoured. So what happened and what are the lessons for Australia ahead of the Voice referendum?
A good read, and something we need to keep in mind with the referendum debate
I agree it ends in a weird spot. From my experience as a wetjala/pākehā growing up in Pilbara town with indigenous Australian majority, and having lived in NZ from 2017-2021, I feel that NZ is a better example of cohabitation between indigenous ethnic groups and British colonists, not to mention many other Pasifika and other ethnic groups. I think with my individual frame of reference, the positive impact of actually honouring the treaty over time is clear to see in compared outcomes. Of course, this isn’t to say Māori people enjoy equality of outcome to westerners. NZ continues to have a shocking amount of poverty, and I don’t have any data to support my comparison favouring NZ. Just a bit of a shame that other than with use of language, the outcomes examined in the article seem totally abstract.
Also, I think the implied equivalence between the treaty of Waitangi and the indigenous Australian voice to parliament is silly and demonstrates an eagerness to forget the bloodiness of our history, which is not equally shared by NZ’s. Neither in terms of casualties nor the recency of systemic discrimination.
I agree it ends in a weird spot. From my experience as a wetjala/pākehā growing up in Pilbara town with indigenous Australian majority, and having lived in NZ from 2017-2021, I feel that NZ is a better example of cohabitation between indigenous ethnic groups and British colonists, not to mention many other Pasifika and other ethnic groups. I think with my individual frame of reference, the positive impact of actually honouring the treaty over time is clear to see in compared outcomes. Of course, this isn’t to say Māori people enjoy equality of outcome to westerners. NZ continues to have a shocking amount of poverty, and I don’t have any data to support my comparison favouring NZ. Just a bit of a shame that other than with use of language, the outcomes examined in the article seem totally abstract.
Also, I think the implied equivalence between the treaty of Waitangi and the indigenous Australian voice to parliament is silly and demonstrates an eagerness to forget the bloodiness of our history, which is not equally shared by NZ’s. Neither in terms of casualties nor the recency of systemic discrimination.