Two Northland iwi have penned a scathing open letter to the prime minister, rejecting his assertion in the House last week that Māori had ceded sovereignty.
On Tuesday, August 20, Christopher Luxon confirmed his view that Māori ceded sovereignty to the Crown following a series of questions from Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
The following Sunday, August 25, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Manu met and penned a joint letter rebuking Luxon.
“Your assertion is both misleading and offensive,” the iwi wrote, citing the Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry, which concluded northern chiefs did not cede sovereignty in either He Whakaputanga or Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“We absolutely and categorically refute your claim that the Crown is sovereign.”
Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Manu said they were “deeply frustrated” by Luxon’s “disregard of the truth and the tribunal’s findings.”
Te Ao Māori News contacted the Prime Minister’s office for comment, asking him to reconcile his comments with the tribunal’s 2014 findings.
He was unavailable due to his attendance at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting.
Our affiliates at Pacific Media Network have agreed to ask the prime minister when he makes himself available to media later in the day.
The iwi invited Luxon to join them to discuss the issue at Waitangi, as a way to “correct the record” and “deepen [his] understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.
Ka papā te whatitiri, ka hikohiko te uira, ka kahukura ki te rangi. <br><br>The thunder crashes, the lightning tears the heavens asunder, and lights up the night sky.
— Open Letter to the Prime Minister | Ngāti Hine me Ngāti Manu
‘Māori ceded sovereignty to the Crown’
During Question Time last Tuesday, Swarbrick pushed Luxon for an answer on the issue.
After some back and forth, including an interjection by Luxon’s deputy, Winston Peters, who cited Tā Āpirana Ngata’s thesis, which said Māori ceded sovereignty, Luxon finally said, “Māori ceded sovereignty to the Crown.”
The assertion from the two most powerful ministers in New Zealand’s government runs contrary to Stage 1 of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry.
In 2014, it concluded the rangatira who signed te Tiriti o Waitangi in February 1840 did not cede sovereignty to the British Crown.
The report says rangatira agreed “to share power and authority with Britain” and allow the governor authority to control British subjects in New Zealand.