The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, GNZM, QSO

Governor General

Opening of He Kura Toi Tangata: 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal

Issue date: Tuesday, 4 February 2025

Publication type: Speech

Toitū Kāhui tangata

Ka Haea te ata,

ka Hāpara te ata

Ka korokī te manu

Ka wairori te kutu

Ko te ata nui, ka horaina

Ka Taki te umere,

He po, he po, he ao

ka awatea.

E koro, ….Matiu,

Kua tatū mai ō rahi ki te whakanui i te kaupapa o te rā, arā , Te Taraipiunara o Waitangi rima te kau tau ki muri, whakaara mai ai.

Hoki wairua mai!, Hoki wairua mai!

Hoki wairua mai!

Koutou, tātou kua tatū mai i runga i te reo karanga o te rā,

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa

[Be alert for this is a gathering of great significance. As the dawn breaks, and we hear the birds call, we move from the time of darkness to the new era of enlightenment. Each new dawn enables us to embrace new knowledge, to be inspired by the possibilities that rise in front of us.

Matiu(Rata) We have arrived to celebrate 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal, which was begun under your watch. Return in spirit to embrace your people, as we celebrate its journey.]

To one and all gathered here today, greetings.

I specifically acknowledge:

Distinguished members of the judiciary, including the Honourable Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann, Chief Justice of New Zealand, and

The Honourable Chief Justice Debra Mortimer, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia,

Ministers of the Crown,

Members of Parliament,

Ngati Kawa, Ngati Rahiri, Ngati Hine and Ngati Kuri representatives,

Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu and Dame Claudia Orange.

I am truly honoured to take part in the opening of this exhibition commemorating the first 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal.

How fitting that He Kura Toi Tangata begin its tour of Aotearoa here in Waitangi – te pito te whenua – where Te Tiriti, the foundational document for the Tribunal’s work, was conceived in its English and te reo Māori iterations – and was signed by rangatira, as well as my earliest antecedent in this role, Captain William Hobson.

Kō ngā tahu ā ō tapuwai inanahi, hei tauira mō āpōpō. The footsteps laid down by our ancestors create the paving stones upon which we stand today.

Retrospectives challenge us to consider and compare how we were in the past, with how we are today. This exhibition will prompt us to reflect on the impacts and achievements of the Waitangi Tribunal over the past 50 years, and the ways they are woven through our story as a nation.

From its small beginnings; to the gradual additions to its powers, Members and support staff; to its ground-breaking reports – the Tribunal has become a vital forum for the airing of concerns about a wide range of issues; for the seeking of redress for past wrongs; and for exploring the meaning of Te Tiriti as it pertains to the contemporary world.

The Tribunal has achieved so much, whether it be in greater public awareness of Te Tiriti and te ao Māori, in contributions to legislative development and new institutions, and of course, in the Treaty Settlement process.

Tonight, I particularly want to pay homage to those claimants who spent many decades of their lives toiling on behalf of their hapu or iwi – often at great personal cost – and sometimes not living long enough to see the resolution of those claims.

In addition, I want to acknowledge all who have been involved in working with the Tribunal, including those behind the scenes. Sir Doug Graham observed that the Treaty Settlements in the 1990s would not have been possible without the Tribunal’s research and deliberations – which, incidentally, included research undertaken by our current Minister of Justice, the Honourable Paul Goldsmith, during his time with the Tribunal. The research done by, and presented to the Tribunal over its 50 years is an immensely valuable resource for all New Zealanders.

On behalf of the people of New Zealand, I thank Members – past and present – for their willingness to grapple with complex histories and contentious issues, and to make recommendations that have often been at the leading edge of the practical application of te Tiriti.  As Sir Doug said: “They have done their country proud”.

I hope the more difficult moments were balanced by moments of intense satisfaction – whether it be enabling histories to be heard and recorded for posterity – or providing a forum for debate about emerging societal, cultural or environmental issues.

There is so much to learn from the lessons of history uncovered during the Tribunal process. The Tribunal’s recommendations have, in turn, become part of the historical record.

If Matiu Rata could have been with us tonight, how proud he would have been to celebrate his legacy with you all – and to honour the people who played their part in taking the Waitangi Tribunal forward on its journey.

Congratulations to everyone here tonight who has been involved in the Tribunal process to date, as well as all those involved in the making of this powerful and timely exhibition. I am delighted to now formally open He Kura Toi Tangata: 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal, 1975-2025. 

Judge Sarah Reeves

Deputy Chair, Waitangi Tribunal, and Chair of the 50th Anniversary Steering Committee

He Kura Toi Tangata opening remarks

4 February 2025

Tēnā tātou

Aiō ki te nuku

Aiō ki te rangi

Ko Te Ātiawa nō runga i te rangi

Tihei mauri ora

Tēnā koutou kātoa

Introduction

2025 marks 50 years since the Waitangi Tribunal was established, and it’s important that we’ve come here to Waitangi to begin our anniversary celebrations.

Firstly, Your Excellency, Dame Cindy Kiro, I want to echo Monty’s comments and thank you for formally opening the exhibition. As the embodiment of the Crown we don’t overlook the significance of your presence here tonight.

And, as the daughter of a previous Governor - General I understand the demands on you at this time of the year, so we very much appreciate that you have chosen to be here tonight to support this kaupapa.

50th Anniversary projects

We have been planning since 2023 to deliver a range of events and projects that appropriately celebrate and whakamana the history and legacy of the Tribunal.

We are aware of unprecedented interest in the work of the Tribunal, treaty issues and treaty claims. There is high demand for accurate information from trusted sources. We see this in the metrics for the Tribunal’s website, which had in the period 1 July 2024 – 31 December 2024, 1.1million users and 4.4million views.

The focus of this exhibition and other anniversary projects is to make the history and work of the Tribunal accessible to a general audience through visual, narrative, and informative content in a way that has not been seen before.

Tonight we are launching two of our key projects for this year, the commemorative photographic exhibition He Kura Toi Tangata and the documentary Karanga Rā – 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal.

The name of the photographic exhibition, He Kura Toi Tangata, was gifted to us by Tribunal member Tā Pou Temara,  who is unable to join us tonight, and the name encapsulates the treasured contributions by all those who have taken part in the Tribunal’s processes over the years.

Member, Dr Paul Hamer will speak in further detail shortly about the process of putting the exhibition together.

The documentary Karanga Rā – 50 years of the Waitangi Tribunal, will screen as part of the exhibition, but is also a stand-alone piece of work. The idea for the documentary came out of our videography/oral history project.

Whakaata Māori will screen the documentary on Waitangi Day at 7pm and I believe it will also be screened at the Treaty Grounds on Waitangi Day. We will also make it available on our website and other social  media.

Judge Alana Thomas will speak in further detail shortly about the documentary and videography/oral history project.

Then in late May 2025 we will bring this exhibition to Wellington where its new home until September 2025 will be the Wellington Museum. There will be a number of mid-year events in Wellington around Matariki including a reception for past staff and members, speakers’ events and an exhibition of Tribunal taonga.

We hope to welcome past staff members Ministers Potaka and Goldsmith to those events.

In addition to these projects, we also have a book in progress. This is a coffee table style illustrated history of the Tribunal aimed at a general audience.  It is being edited by Dr Aroha Harris and Basil Keane and written by senior Tribunal staff and members.  It will be richly illustrated with photographic images from our archives and other sources and will be published in 2026 by Auckland University Press.

We will conclude our year’s commemorations with a 2-day symposium to be hosted by Te Herenga Waka Victoria University on 9 and 10 October, noting that 10 October is the actual 50th anniversary of the empowering legislation.

We also hope that somewhere in that vicinity Minister Potaka will host a Parliamentary Reception, and we will be in touch Minister with your Office to discuss that. 

Significance of the 50th anniversary

The 50 wonderful images assembled here and the kaikōrero in the documentary, express far more eloquently than I ever could, the significance of the Tribunal and how over 50 years it has transformed from a tiny part time body into a nationally significant institution that has both woven together the fabric of our nation and is firmly woven into the fabric of our nation.

The key personalities in this were Matiu Rata the original architect of the Tribunal and Tā Eddie Durie who during his leadership dragged the Tribunal into relevance by moving it out of the hotel ballrooms and onto the marae.

History will judge whether we have fulfilled Matiu Rata’s vision as he expressed it, ‘to settle the deeply felt and long-standing grievances of the Māori people over the treaty which they regard as the very foundation of their rights.’

There are the quantifiable measures of the Tribunal’s success; 3000 claims registered, two-thirds inquired into, 125 reports, approximately 90% of New Zealand’s landmass inquired into and reported on by the district historical inquiries, and that history documented for posterity.

But we also heard kōrero this morning about the powerful shifts in our society fuelled by the Tribunal’s reports,  which have almost singlehandedly brought the Treaty into the national collective consciousness as well as public discourse. There is the recognition of te reo Māori as a taonga and all that followed, the recognition of the Treaty as the founding document of our nation and its centrality to our constitutional arrangements, and many other significant milestones.

It’s too late to attempt to wind the clock back on any of these matters now, as they are too far out the gate.

Kaupapa claims

This exhibition charts the growth and shift in the inquiry programme of the Tribunal over 50 years, with the contemporary jurisdiction at first and then the move to hear historical claims.

With the end of the district historical programme now in sight and full engagement of the kaupapa inquiry programme, we have in a sense returned to our original contemporary jurisdiction.

Many of the claims being heard in the kaupapa inquiries have been on our books for many years. This is because from the nineties onwards the Tribunal prioritised the hearing of district historical claims to support the Treaty settlement aspirations of iwi and the Crown.

We have a statutory obligation to hear the claims that come before us and so now we are proceeding to do so.

Strategic review and conclusion

The Chief Judge as chair of the Tribunal recently initiated a review of our current strategic direction by a group of stakeholders both internal and external, to examine our inquiry programme, ensure we are best placed to proceed in a timely and effective fashion to hear the balance of claims on our books. Also, to consider the purpose and role of the Tribunal once the current work programme is completed.

An interim report was completed recently with the final report due to be completed by March. The Minister will receive that and we expect the findings to be taken into account in any other review of the Tribunal he undertakes.

Finally I echo the words of the kaikōrero. Who else can hear the claims of Māori? Who else is there? What other body is as accessible, with the expertise to hear the treaty claims of Māori in a judicial but culturally appropriate way.

The answer should be, as long as there continues to be treaty claims against the Crown, then the Tribunal is where those claims must be heard.

Thanks

I would like to thank Ben Dalton and his team at the Waitangi National Trust, Nicole, Ralph, and Curator Owen Taituha for their collaboration and the seamless way this exhibition has come together so quickly. Ngā mihi ki a koe Owen for bringing the vision to life in such a beautiful way.

I also pay tribute to our Tribunal team, particularly member Dr Paul Hamer, Chief Historian Kesaia Walker and Dr Ross Webb, for all the work they have done choosing images, research for captions, arranging permissions, providing narrative and contextual material all in an incredibly short time, and while doing their day jobs. Whilst there have been a few hiccoughs, it has been a remarkably smooth process.

I also acknowledge the support of the Borrin Foundation. Their financial support has been crucial in enabling us to deliver this exhibition. Ngā mihi ki a koutou.

Lastly, a big mihi to Deputy Director Sandra Edmonds for her tireless work in pulling together the arrangements for this week.

Āku mihi ki a koutou katoa, tēnā koutou katoa.

Dr Monty Soutar ONZM

Tribunal Member

Mā wai e rou ake te whetū i te rangi? Ka taka kei raro.

Who among us has the courage to pluck a star from the heavens?

They who dare risk falling from above.

There are many milestones in the Waitangi Tribunal’s fifty-year history. I have selected two to make some concluding remarks on, before inviting Ruakere Hond to close our evening.

The first is the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which established the Waitangi Tribunal, and formally recognised the Treaty in law. It was a significant achievement for Matiu Rata, a son of the North with ties to Ngāti Kurī, Te Aupōuri, and Ngāti Whātua. As a Tribunal member, I have often reflected on what motivated his commitment as Minister of Māori Affairs to advocate for this Act.

Matiu Rata, prominently featured as the first photograph in our exhibition, was born in 1934, and I have considered a few of the significant events that took place in his early life that may have influenced his views and aspirations.

In February 1940, Sir Apirana Ngata’s poignant words here on the marae during the centennial celebrations were heard across the nation. I’m uncertain if Rata was present as a child, but his parents and community were deeply impacted by Ngata's message, as was all of Maoridom. Standing with the newly formed 28th Māori Battalion, Ngata stated, “I don’t know of any year that the Māori people approached with so much misgiving as the New Zealand centennial year. In retrospect, what do Māori see? Land lost. The powers of the chiefs humbled. Māori culture scattered and broken.”

Yet he also said, “Still, we offer up our youth, the very flower of our race to stand side by side with you in the Empire’s fight.” At the war's peak, amid devastating Māori casualties, he reminded Maoridom, “We are of one house; if our Pākehā brothers fall, we fall with them. How can we ever hold up our heads, when the struggle is over, to the question, ‘Where were you when New Zealand was at war?’  Ki te tahuri tētahi whare ki a ia anō, e kore taua whare e tū.  A house divided cannot stand.

With many young men from Te Hāpua and surrounding communities serving in the Māori Battalion, it's hard to believe that Matiu Rata wasn't inspired by their sacrifices in war—sacrifices that earlier Māori leaders had used as a call for equality in the corridors of power.

Or perhaps it was the distressing revelations of the Hunn report in the 1960s, which had exposed the struggles Māori faced in areas such as infant mortality, crime, life expectancy, housing, and education, that fuelled Rata’s desire for change. The challenges endured by countless Māori families, including his own, who left their rural homes in the 50s and 60s for the cities in search of work, made these issues visible to the wider community.

Or was it the cultural revival of the early 1970s, when young, urban, educated Māori combined with their elders to deliver a powerful response to the government’s ongoing neglect of Māori issues?

Ultimately, it was likely a blend of all these influences, combined with 135 years of neglect regarding Māori rights under the Treaty, that inspired Matiu Rata to introduce this landmark bill. He had long held the vision of ‘ratifying’ the Treaty, striving to ensure its principles were honoured. While the legislation’s significance may not have been fully appreciated at the time, the Act and its amendments has undeniably shaped race relations in New Zealand and elevated Māori rights in the political arena.

Though the Act initially fell short of his aspirations, we must recognise Matiu Rata’s leadership in bringing about this essential change. His unwavering commitment to justice and equality serves as a powerful reminder that with boldness and vision, we can reach for the stars and forge a brighter future.

Now, I want to reflect on the second pivotal moment in our history—the passing into law of the Treaty of Waitangi Amendment Act 1985 and the context in which it happened. I remember my first year at university in 1980 when Maranga Mai, a Māori theatre group, performed a powerful play about Māori land struggles. As a 19 year-old, I felt a wave of discomfort, knowing little about the Treaty, and seeing my Pākehā friends dismiss the message they shared without any debate. Yet, their catchy songs lingered in my mind, and to this day I still remember the words of one of them.

How much longer must we wait

for the rights that we should have

Guaranteed us at Waitangi

to our seafood and our land?

And how long will you treat us

as though we can be ignored?

Can’t you see that we are angry?

We are angry, and we won’t wait any longer.

When you say that we are equal*

do you mean that we must become

brown skinned, brown eyed black-haired Pākehā

our Māoritanga gone?

We won’t let you do it,

we won’t let you complete cultural genocide.

We won’t become assimilated,

faded, degraded, pseudo-Pākehā.

More recently, I learnt that that song was written by Donna Awatere on her way to her first protest here at the Treaty Grounds in February 1971. It became a source of strength for many. It calmed the nerves of those on her bus, many of whom had been arrested before but never for a Māori issue. The lyrics captured the anger and determination of a generation, culminating in the Land March of 1975, which undoubtedly influenced politicians to approve Matiu Rata’s Treaty Bill just days before the largest protest march we had ever seen in this country reached Wellington.

Then came Bastion Point, the Raglan Golf Course, and the Springbok Tour. Waitangi Day briefly transformed into New Zealand Day, and attempts were made to shift the commemorations to Wellington. Every year, security issues loomed over the Treaty Grounds. Government representatives grew cautious in speaking of a ‘one people’ nation and the ceremonies felt absurd when hundreds of police officers in riot gear were present.

Influenced by the intensity of these protests, some politicians viewed amending the Treaty legislation to allow the Tribunal to investigate claims dating back to 1840, as a convenient solution to the growing unrest.

Tapahia te whēwhē kia papī mai te ero, katahi ka tau ai te mauri o te tangata.

Lance the boil to let the impurities ooze out, and you will clear the path for healing to begin.

With the passing of the 1985 amendment, Aotearoa New Zealand, whether it recognised it or not, was about to confront its past, and there would be no turning back.

As Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana wisely noted, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” There is much to learn from the Tribunal’s 50-year history, and while none of us know the challenges ahead, it behoves us to carry the Tribunal’s legacy forward by honouring those who came before us — whose faces grace the walls of this exhibition, and upon whose shoulders we stand — by continuing the pursuit of justice, equality and equity for all.

Dr Paul Hamer

Tribunal Member

A decision was made in September last year that this exhibition would go ahead. We had already been thinking of images because of our planned illustrated history of the Tribunal, which is something a number of us are working on at the moment. So we had a reasonable idea of what we had and where to find it, but this process has led us on to discovering so much more. Hopefully the exhibition will also be a catalyst for more images coming to light.

We decided that we would have 50 images to illustrate the Tribunal’s 50-year history. We went into this hoping to have one image for each year, thus creating a chronology from the Tribunal’s inception until today.

We were looking for photos that showed the Tribunal in action – hearing evidence, interacting with claimants – as well as images of claimants themselves.

It was difficult to find images that are specific to the Tribunal in the early years of its existence. If they exist they haven’t come to light. So the first three images are proxies. The first is Matiu Rata at Parliament with the land match protestors on 13 October 1975, which is only three days after the Treaty of Waitangi Act was passed. Then we have the first claimant, Joe Hawke, from the year after his claim was heard, and the interior of the Intercontinental hotel ballroom, where that hearing and one other took place in 1977.

As you’ll see, we’ve leaned on newspaper photographs for a number of the images in the Tribunal’s first 15 years. But there are exceptions: we have two photographs by Fiona Clark from the Motunui inquiry in 1982, that were first published in Tu Tangata, the magazine of the Department of Maori Affairs. And we have two from Gil Hanly taken at Ōrākei in 1985.

We approached John Miller, the Ngāpuhi chronicler of protests since the late 1960s, but he had never photographed at a Tribunal hearing. We also found nothing by Ans Westra, although I remember her taking photos at a Te Tau Ihu hearing in about 2003, so it may be that those images remain among her many thousands that are yet to be digitised.

From about 1990 photographs taken by Tribunal staff take over and make up the majority of the remaining images. The Tribunal holds a vast number of images from its hearings, but unfortunately they weren’t always taken on the best cameras and the information about who or what’s in them hasn’t always been recorded. Nor often is it known now who took them. This exhibition has been the start of a process of trying to order what we have.

From 2006 the photos all move from analogue to digital. There is even one image taken on a phone, by Justice Harvey himself at Ōmāhu in 2020.

We were fortunate that when Ngāi Te Rangi came to Wellington last year for the hearing concerning te reo in the public service, they brought a professional photographer with them, and as a result we have two images taken by Tessa Chrisp. It’s great when the still photography aspect of recording these events is taken seriously, because it’s not always been regarded as particularly important.

So altogether I make it that we have 11 photos taken on Tribunal site visits, 11 during the formal presentation of evidence, and nine taken at report handover ceremonies. The handovers are a special time: they’re the culmination of – usually – years of an inquiry. Faces are beaming as the claimants receive the reports, usually in woven kete.

The photos also show the diversity of places the Tribunal has sat and heard evidence – under canvas up the Whanganui River in a place only reachable by boat, in wharenui on marae, the hotel ballroom that I mentioned before, and in the Tribunal’s offices.

We’ve also wanted to illustrate the range of inquiries the Tribunal has dealt with, from contemporary policy issues, to historical land-based district inquiries, to Treaty settlement mandate inquiries, to kaupapa inquiries such as those concerning Mana Wāhine and Military Veterans.

The photos also feature the Tribunal’s leadership, or at least since 1980 when Eddie Durie became chair. So there are photos of him, of Joe Williams, of Wilson Isaac, and one of our current chair, Chief Judge Caren Fox.

We’ve aimed for a geographic spread, so there are images from Te Hāpua in the north to Ōtautahi/Christchurch in the south. We have, however, primarily chosen the highest quality images to illustrate the Tribunal’s work that we could find, rather than selecting for solely on the grounds of covering each corner of the country.

The last photo – featuring Margaret Mutu giving evidence – also shows the growing use of technology, with video link appearances, simultaneous translation, and livestreaming. It’s worth comparing that picture to the relatively spartan set-up in Gil Hanly’s 1985 picture at Ōrākei, with just paper on the table and I presume a clerk to the right of the members writing notes by hand.

We’re hopeful that the illustrated history will contain as many as four times the number of images, so there is much more to come in presenting a visual history of the Tribunal’s first 50 years.