Suffering Pākehā Fomo? Some handy do’s and don’ts

I have read a few opinion pieces lately that have reminded me of the myths and legends that some Pākehā people tell other Pākehā people about Māori people.

The big myth from which most others seem to come is the one about how Māori are privileged. It’s a peculiar fable. It reads like a curious case of Pākehā Fomo.

There is not much privilege in having to argue to protect your language or to fight for the same quality of healthcare as Pākehā people or to be treated equally with your peers in education.

The myth persists even though compensation for land thefts is less than 2% of the value and even though so much Māori land is still government-controlled in perpetual leases. There is certainly no privilege in the casual, constant racism that Māori people are subjected to.

I think the myth comes from the idea that Māori are supposed to be grateful for colonisation.

Wanting to retain our identity, authority, law and culture in the face of supposed Pākehā cultural superiority is considered churlish, because, the idea goes, why would we want to be Māori if we can be Pākehā instead?

Turns out that about a million Māori people can give you a million reasons. And nearly a billion other people can as well, if we go by the number of views from all around the world of the Parliament haka led by Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.

This myth of "Māori privilege" and its little offshoots is at the heart of the fairytale that some people are using to argue for the Treaty Principles Bill. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Myth 1 is that this is the first time ordinary people can have a say on the meaning of the principles.

In fact there have been about 50 statutes that contain reference to "the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi" since 1975. Chris Trotter was old enough to submit in 1975 and could have done so since if he had wanted. This new Bill is just one of many opportunities over the last 50 years for any of us to have a say on what the principles mean.

Myth 2 is that the principles are unknown or undefined. This myth was retold again just this week by Dr Robert Hamlin. But even he knows that the principles are defined in the law by the courts. They include good faith; partnership; active protection; equity and equal treatment; redress; participation; informed decision-making; self-determination; and the right of development.

If you don’t want to read the case law, no worries, there are lots of books on it in the university library.

Myth 3 is that the Bill would not affect te Tiriti o Waitangi. Yes it would because it requires the courts and the government to only apply the fictions in the Bill, not the principles lawfully derived from the articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Bill contains a fictitious representation of te Tiriti, its articles and its principles.

Myth 4 is the erroneous idea that the Bill promotes equal rights. To the contrary the Bill removes protection for the equal rights for Māori.

Te Tiriti made express provision in article 3 for equal rights to Māori so those rights would be protected by and from successive governments. The Bill would allow governments to manipulate and repudiate those protections.

Which is what this government did with the Māori wards legislation and the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora.

Myth 5 is a really weird one, that tino rangatiratanga applies to everyone. No, it does not. Tino rangatiratanga is a tikanga Māori obligation held by hapū and iwi Māori to exercise their sovereignty over their own matters.

This particular myth is a full-on Pākehā Fomo moment. The tellers of this myth claim that democracy and individual rights are the cornerstone of authority and power in New Zealand.

But they also want to be like Māori and have all the collective obligations imposed by tikanga Māori law on whānau, hapū and iwi. I imagine they don’t want the dispossession and racism though.

My advice is if you suffer from Pākehā Fomo, just let it go. You can be tangata Tiriti if you want to with all the protections afforded you by te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Here are two starting do’s and two don’ts.

Do learn a bit of reo Māori and do visit a marae every year or so. Don’t say racist things to Māori people and don’t support racist legislation. Easy peasy.

For your democratic, equitable information, select committee submissions for the Treaty Principles Bill are open now through Parliament’s website and close on January 7, 2025.

Have your say while you can.

■Metiria Stanton Turei is a senior law lecturer at the University of Otago and a former Green Party MP and co-leader.