Human Rights Seminar

Thursday 31 July 2003

Delivered by Deputy Mayor, Lesley Keast on behalf of Mayor Garry Moore

Local government now is at the point where it will have to grasp the reality of the Treaty of Waitangi or run the risk of having many of its decisions open to challenge and debate.

The New local government Act is quite specific about the need to work alongside the tangata whenua. The old window-dressing and grudging acceptance will no longer do.

To get to there, we have to start at a realistic point where people actually understand at least the broad brush intent of the treaty.

We also have to make sure that we show some real commitment to respecting the human rights of everybody along the way.

How relevant is an event like today's? Completely relevant. You have to look no further than the spectacle of some of the political pygmies of our times with both feet firmly planted in mid air as they hold forth on the seashore ownership issue they actually understand nothing about.

It's dangerous, divisive stuff that in recent weeks has caused enough rifts and anger around the Council table for me to get a fairly good idea of just what, and how much is missing from this picture. Just about any understanding at all. That's all.

It is just the latest example of how little so many people still seem to know about the Treaty and in terms of today about how you cannot wipe the rights of an entire people just because it does not suit the mood of the moment.

The upside of all this is that it is just more evidence of what a very young nation we are and how we are still collectively forming a national identity that is uniquely our own.

To do this well, we have to move away from the exploiters of fear who mine this uncertainty and into a new sense of national purpose based on some real facts.

Here we are particularly well placed to make a good job of this. Historically Ngai Tahu chose to welcome the new faces and ways to this land and to learn from them.

We all need to make a real effort to turn this into a two way lesson. Events like today help us to down that track with some real integrity, insight and humility.

You may not get all the answers here today, but you will at least start to learn how to frame some of the questions we will all need to ask ourselves in the near future.