It sets out its twofold policy in respect of Maori: to honour its Treaty obligations, and to establish an enduring relationship with Maori:
Stats NZ recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a founding document of "Aotearoa New Zealand" and is committed to honouring its Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
Delivering for and with Māori, iwi, and hapū is a strategic priority for Stats NZ. We have commenced a journey to establish enduring relationships with iwi and Māori that enable them to fully participate in the data ecosystem as partners, collaborators, designers, decision-makers, and customers.
In October 2019, Stats NZ and the Data Iwi Leaders Group of the National Iwi Chairs Forum signed a Mana Ōrite Relationship Agreement. This agreement creates a relationship that is underpinned by the Treaty and derived from the Treaty but creates a separate relationship. It therefore confirms the two relationships set out above: honouring Treaty obligations, and meeting the obligations of the Mana Orite relationship.
This new relationship Mana Orite relationship...
.... “established a set of goals, relationship principles, and outcomes for engagement where the parties have equal explanatory power, and acknowledge and accept each other’s unique perspectives, knowledge systems, and world views. The purpose of the relationship is to work together with iwi-Māori to realise the potential of data to make a sustainable, positive difference to outcomes for all iwi, hapū, and whanau”.
It is understood that the Mana Orite agreement relates only to Maori and that no similar agreements have been entered into with any other races in New Zealand. It is therefore a special relationship between a government department and Maori.
The website goes on to describe its relationship with the Treaty. It chooses the words “will give effect to” which suggests that it is a voluntary acceptance of the Treaty Articles.
We will give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the following ways.
Article 1: Kāwanatanga (governance)
We will embrace engagement with Māori and iwi and create opportunities for them to influence census design and decisions, including through oversight of the programme. Active collaboration and partnerships with iwi and Māori communities in localities will ensure that Māori are able to contribute to, and Māori knowledge informs, the work that we do.
Note that under the Treaty the Crown had kawanatanga over all the people of New Zealand. The courts of New Zealand have ruled that sovereignty was acquired by the Crown in 1840.
Article 2: Tino Rangatiratanga (self-determination)
We will create opportunities for Māori leadership, engagement, collaboration, and co-design of activities with the potential to impact Māori. Census will, where possible, assist whānau, hapū, iwi, and Māori communities to build capacity and capability to understand and use data and lead iwi and Māori community-based initiatives.
Article 3: Ōritetanga (equity)
We will prioritise initiatives supporting Māori participation in the census and engagement with the data ecosystem. We will present meaningful and insightful information about and to iwi-Māori so the potential of data to improve Māori wellbeing can be realised.
Article 3 stated that all the ordinary people of New Zealand and would have the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England. It guaranteed equality. The suggestion that it guaranteed equity is a 21 century invention an is nothing short of mischievous.
Article 4: Te Ritenga Māori declaration (right to beliefs and values)
We will honour the beliefs and values of Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi, and communities, develop approaches with a te ao Māori lens, and support the right of Māori to practice tikanga Māori (Māori language and customs).
The Crown and Stats NZ would have been aware that the Treaty and its Articles are not binding in New Zealand law. Presumably they received legal advice to that affect.
They may argue that they were complying with the principles of the Treaty. However, they would have received legal advice that there were no such principles incorporated in any legislation affecting information collecting and a census, therefore they were not bound by any principles of the Treaty.
To put it bluntly, the government and the Crown and NZ knowingly flouted the law of the land. Not only that, they have decided to comply with what they call Article 4 of the Treaty which is not part of the operative part of the Treaty.
Public discussion document
In September 2018 Stats NZ released a public discussion document on what the new legislation should include: Towards new data and statistics legislation. The document considers in some depth the obligations of Stats NZ, as part of the government, arising from the Treaty or elsewhere. The document can be accessed here:
The document is a fascinating read. It creates the impression that the Stats NZ is strictly bound to comply with its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi in a multitude of ways, none of which is true. But it goes much further than that. It adopts a catalogue of other, broader obligations, aims, aspirations, and (let’s face it) fantasies that are not remotely linked to Treaty obligations. Presumably these arise from the Mana Orite relationship. These new aims, obligations and aims are dressed in high-flowing language that mimics the rights-based wording of a United Nation’s declaration of rights.
When reading the extract you will come across references to Treaty obligations or similar. Bear in mind that there are no such obligations in law. Any Treaty obligations adopted by Stats NZ are adopted voluntarily not because of the operation of the law.
You will also come across a smorgasbord of flowery language about aims and aspirations relating to every aspect of data collection. These are presumably based on the Mana Orite relationship, a private agreement between Stats NZ and Maori, not on the law.
The Foreword (page 3) by the then Minister for Statistics, James Shaw, states:
We need to ensure that the new legislation reflects the Government’s intention to work with Māori, to respond to Māori data needs, aspirations, rights, and interests. We want to see an active partnership with Māori when agencies design and implement new data processes.
The discussion document goes on to consider the Treaty and Maori issues.
Page 7: How can the Treaty of Waitangi and the interests of iwi and Māori be recognised when collecting, managing, and using data?
Page 11: New data and statistics legislation will recognise the Treaty relationship between Māori and the Crown, and their interests in using data for decision-making and advancing economic, social, and cultural wellbeing.
Page 16: Contains a whole section on Treaty relationship with Māori:
• working closely with iwi and Māori to ensure their involvement and engagement in key developments around data for, and about, Māori and the data system
• providing richer insights to improve the quality of decisions.
• Partnership – the Crown and Māori will act reasonably, honourably, and in good faith towards each other as Treaty partners.
• Participation – the Crown will encourage and make it easier for Māori to more actively participate in the relationship.
• Protection – the Crown will take active, positive steps to ensure that Māori interests are protected as appropriate.
• Recognition of cultural values – the Crown will recognise and provide for Māori perspectives and values.
• Use mana-enhancing processes – for the Crown and Māori, the process is as important as the end point. This involves a commitment to early engagement and ongoing relationship processes in decision-making about government-held data.
There’s growing Māori interest in governance and management of the government data system.
For example, the Data Iwi Leaders Group, established by the Iwi Chairs Forum, provides a forum for discussing governance of Māori data and working with government to address data governance issues.
Te Mana Rauranga (Māori Data Sovereignty Network) advocates and provides support for Māori data sovereignty. In their Tūtohinga (Charter), they say that:
• data is a living tāonga and is of strategic value to Māori
• Māori data refers to data produced by Māori or about Māori and the environments we have relationships with.
• Māori data is subject to the rights articulated in the Treaty and the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which Aotearoa New Zealand is a signatory.
Page 17: The Statistics Act (which was replaced by the new legislation) doesn’t reflect the modern Treaty relationship between Māori and the Crown – it doesn’t mention the Treaty or the interests of Māori in collecting, managing, and using data.
Data and statistics can play a significant role in decision-making, and advancing iwi and Māori economic, social, and cultural wellbeing. It’s about improving data and statistics for, and about, Māori. It’s also about increasing access and capability. But data for and about Māori must be safeguarded and protected.
Page 42: Governance of the data system
It’s also about supporting the Treaty relationship between Māori and the Crown in relation to data, including mechanisms for recognising Māori interests in governance.
Page 44: There are also multiple layers of Māori participation in governance and management of the government data system. For example the Data Iwi Leaders Group, established by the Iwi Chairs Forum, provides a forum for discussing governance of Māori data and working with government to address data governance issues. Te Mana Rauranga (Māori Data Sovereignty Network) advocates, and provides support, for Māori data sovereignty. Te Pae Whakawairua provides independent advice to the Chief Archivist to ensure services meet the needs of Māori.
Summary of submissions
A summary of submissions was released in April 2019. Not surprisingly, the summary suggests that submitters generally agreed with the thrust of the proposals of Stats NZ in the discussion document.
Progression of the Bill
The proposals for the new Data and Statistics Bill progressed through the various legislative stages. A (then) confidential report from the Minister of Statistics, James Shaw, to the Committee Chair, Cabinet Government Administration and Expenditure Review Committee sought certain outcomes from the Committee about the proposed legislation:
7. Agree that the purpose of the act should be to:
7.7 recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to consider and provide for Māori interests in statistics and the data used for statistical purposes and for research and analysis including by providing opportunities for:
7.3.1 partnering and early and meaningful engagement with Māori including to inform decision making about data collection and use that impacts on Māori
7.3.2 Māori access to data held by government, to further Māori economic, social and cultural wellbeing
21. We need to take care to ensure there continues to be trust and confidence in New Zealand’s official statistics and government’s use of data. To achieve this, new legislation must:
21.3 recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to consider and provide for Māori interests in statistics and the data used for statistical purposes and for research and analysis including by providing opportunities for:
21.3.1 partnering and early and meaningful engagement with Māori to inform decision making about data collection and use that impacts on Māori;21.3.2 Māori access to data held by government, to further Māori economic, social and cultural wellbeing;
A subsequent document from the Minister to the Chair, Cabinet Legislation Committee included the following:
Alignment with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi
31 The Bill recognises and respects the Crown’s responsibility to give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi, by requiring the Government Statistician to recognise Māori interests when performing their functions, build and maintain the capability and capacity of Stats NZ to understand te Tiriti/the Treaty and Māori perspectives, and foster the capability and capacity of Māori to collect and use data.
What can one say? Taken together these documents present an onslaught of Treaty-based, virtue-signalling slogans about an activity that did not exist at the time of the Treaty. The simple words of the Treaty have become completely lost in in a fabricated fantasy-land where Maori have needs, aspirations, expectations, rights, interests, self-determination, and data sovereignty and governance, and the Crown/New Zealand government has special obligations and responsibilities to Maori, all centred around the provision of information and data. A stranger might be forgiven for thinking that there were no other races in New Zealand, and that Maori had a very special interest in information collection.
These responsibilities of the government are supposedly derived from the Treaty itself or from the Treaty partnership or relationship, but it is clear that some arise from the government’s “broader obligations to Maori” and Stats NZ's “key role in strengthening the wider Māori–Crown relationship – our work supports iwi self-determination, and aspirations to thrive and be successful.” This latter category clearly derives from the Mana Orite relationship with Maori.
None of these obligations or principles arise from the law of New Zealand. They arise from Stats NZ’s decision to voluntarily adopt certain obligations that are claimed to arise from the Treaty, and to fulfil other obligations that it has willingly accepted in the Mana Orite relationship and which are supposedly derived from the Treaty.
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