
BPW NZ submitted to government on the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill.
Here are our comments:
The Federation of Business and Professional Women New Zealand (BPW NZ) recognises in
our policy that Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding
document. The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill does not align with our policy.
Our recommendation is that the Bill be abandoned.
We are concerned that the principles proposed in the Bill are not consistent with the key
principles of the Treaty of partnership, participation and protection. We believe the bill
would further perpetuate the harms of colonisation and result in continued and worsened
unequal outcomes for wahine Māori that were evidenced at the Mana Wahine Kaupapa
Inquiry.
This Bill undermines key legislative frameworks, including Treaty settlement provisions and
mechanisms that support meaningful partnerships and foster trust and shared responsibility
between national and local government and Māori.
We believe that the process by which the Bill was brought to Parliament has not included
comprehensive consultation with tangata whenua and other impacted parties, which
undermines the principles of Te Tiriti. There is no evidence of a gender analysis of the
impact of this Bill.
The concept behind the bill, ‘everyone is equal before the law’, does not respect that while
we may all be equal in our humanity, it is evident that we do not all have equitable
opportunities and outcomes. Our legislation frames our policymaking and must reflect that
Māori women experience worse outcomes in many aspects of our lives as women. This was
affirmed by the findings of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women in October 2024. The Committee recommended a continuation to improvements in
the accessibility of Legal Aid for disadvantaged groups (...) such as (...) Māori’. ‘The report
also notes with concern the high poverty rates among Māori’ and recommends an ‘increase
(to) budgetary allocations for the implementation of policies and programmes (...) for Māori
(..) including measures to address poverty, illiteracy, unpaid work, access to healthcare,
housing, and social and economic benefits’.
Our concerns are further affirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals, which includes six
direct references to Indigenous Peoples, particularly around land rights, income and education. Further, we note New Zealand’s ratification of the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2010. Finally, we are guided by General Recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the Rights of Indigenous Women and Girls, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
which focuses on the rights of Indigenous women and girls. We believe this Bill would be in
contravention of New Zealand’s international treaty commitments.
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ACTION – there is an opportunity being offered for any interested people, which we found relates to this space. It is important to note that the aim of this training is to grow a community of practice, not just offer learning for its own sake.
There is a growing movement of people unified, determined, and empowered to create a Te Tiriti o Waitangi honouring future. One volunteer movement standing in solidarity with Māori is, ‘Tauiwi Tautoko’. Tauiwi Tautoko (non-Māori in support) trains tauiwi (non-Māori) to tautoko (support) Te Tiriti transformation by challenging anti-Māori racism from within tauiwi communities. Over 8 weeks volunteers learn and practise a set of proven strategies from the anti-racist toolkit to ‘call in’ racist comments and gently challenge and change racist views online.
If you are interested in anti-racism and keen to add tools to your kete (basket), a new Tauiwi Tautoko cohort for tauiwi pākehā is starting soon, on 12 February 2025. Note that this training is not intended for people who are at the receiving end of anti-Māori attacks, this is one way for tangata tiriti to take ownership of a problem that exists on our side.
This is the first facilitated cohort this year and will again be run fully online so location is not an issue.
Training calendar for Feb-April cohort:
Informal orientation Dates tbc Times tbc
Onboarding hui Wed 12 Feb 7 to 7.30pm
Opening half day hui Sat 15 Feb 9am to 1pm
Training session Wed 19 Feb 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 26 Feb 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 5 March 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 12 March 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 19 March 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 26 March 7 to 8.30pm
Training session Wed 2 April 7 to 8.30pm
Closing hui Sat 6 April 9am to
12pm