6 Mar 2025
Kirikowhai Mikaere, Lead Technician for Te Kāhui Raraunga, and Rikirangi Gage, Trustee for Te Kāhui Raraunga, have urged the Justice Committee to withdraw the Treaty Principles Bill in its entirety.
Toitū te Tiriti o Waitangi!
Kirikowhai Mikaere, Lead Technician for Te Kāhui Raraunga, and Rikirangi Gage, Trustee for Te Kāhui Raraunga, have urged the Justice Committee to withdraw the Treaty Principles Bill in its entirety.
In our oral presentation last week, we provided greater context on Māori data, and why Te Tiriti is vital to its protection. We also highlighted the impact this Bill could have on non-iwi, Māori-led organisations such as Te Kāhui Raraunga.
“It is vital that Māori hold authority over our own data to ensure our taonga is not harvested and used to perpetuate harm to our people as has historically been seen across the areas of education, health and justice – just to name a few,” said Kirikowhai.
“It is up to Māori how our taonga, such as data are protected. It is not for the Crown to redefine.”
Our written submission on the Treaty Principles Bill details six serious issues within the Bill itself:
Treaty Principles cannot be used as substitute for full Treaty implementation
The principle of partnership has been undermined in the data context
The principle of protection has been inadequately applied to Māori data
The principle of participation is meaningless without control
There is a lack of accountability and enforcement mechanisms
A clear lack of recognition and protections due to the absence of a treaty settlement.
Click here to read our full written submission.
Watch our oral submission
Video source: Office of the Clerk/Parliamentary Service. Licensed by the Clerk of the House of Representatives and/or the Parliamentary Corporation on behalf of Parliamentary Service for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Full licence available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0