Why te Tiriti should place a limit on the supremacy of parliament
Commentary
Ahead of Waitangi Day, Jacinta Ruru and Jacobi Kohu-Morris imagine an alternative to New Zealand’s constitutional framework that gives Te Tiriti o Waitangi the mana it deserves and Māori a meaningful seat at the table.
In the early 1980s, fresh from law school, Sir Justice Joe Williams (Ngāti Pūkenga, Te Arawa) wrote ‘Maranga Ake Ai’ and recorded it with his band Aotearoa. It first aired in 1984 and caused a stir. It deeply offended many European New Zealanders. Lyrics included “Where’s my freedom from oppression? Cos that’s what my people need.”