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Comparing the articles of Te Tiriti-o-Waitangi with the ACT Party’s proposed principles, Feb 2024

The ACT Party has proposed a ‘Treaty Principles Bill’ which they assert ‘would restore the mana of our founding document by ensuring it delivers what it originally promised in 1840: nga tikanga katoa rite tahi – the same rights and duties for all New Zealanders.’  They further explain: The Treaty Principles Bill will not change the Treaty itself. That was set in 1840 and will remain forever. What we are seeking to do is continue the process of defining the Treaty principles, for the first time incorporating the voices of all people through a democratic Parliamentary process, instead of through the Tribunal or the courts. See here for the source of these quotes and for further information from the ACT Party:  https://www.treaty.nz/ The ACT Party have placed three proposed principles on their website and it is helpful to compare these proposed principles with the actual texts of both Te Tiriti-o-Waitangi and the Treaty of Waitangi. Please note that the principles that appear on the ACT P
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'Te Tiriti o Waitangi' hui held at Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia 20 January 2024

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National Identity Workshop in Kimiora, Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia 20 January 2024 I was fortunate to attend the ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi’ hui called by Kingi Tūheitia at Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia, this past Saturday, 20 January 2024. It was an historic event and showed, among other things, how the Kīngitanga continues to be an extraordinary institution. Although it has had its ups and downs in recent times, there is no other institution in the Māori world that can call for and host such a hui. The Rātana Church is an extraordinary institution too and hosts major hui, and recently Te Matatini has become a significant event. However, it is only the Kīngitanga that regularly hosts such large hui bringing the various iwi of the country together. And it is not just its physical capacities, capabilities and infrastructure that enables it to host hui of this kind. It is also because of the depth and complexity of the relationships it holds with every iwi of the country - even those
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'Te Matauranga Maori', 1898

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  Jubilee : Te Tiupiri, Volume 1, Issue 44, 8 December 1898, Page 12
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Indigenous Knowledge and Transdisciplinary Science: Some Remarks by Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal

Thank you for the invitation to speak today and to share with you some of my thoughts regarding indigenous knowledge and transdisciplinary science. I would like to begin by stating that I am not a scientist, in the conventional sense, and I do not claim standing in science. Rather, I am a researcher of traditional indigenous knowledge in New Zealand - what we call mātauranga Māori. I have been a researcher of this knowledge since the late 1980s motivated by both a desire for a greater understanding of my Māori identity and also by the creative possibilities I see in this body of knowledge. I have held formal roles in the academy, however, today I work as an independent researcher located within my tribal community. This is for a number of reasons. First, I was taught by a number of my tribal elders who asked me to take care of their treasures and to pass those treasures on in due course to other, usually younger, members of our community. These treasures include our traditional stories
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'Long Day's Journey into Night', by Eugene O'Neill, ATC Production 20 July 2022

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Last night my wife Tania and I went to the Auckland Theatre Company's production of 'Long Day's Journey into Night' by Eugene O'Neill, the great American playwright. What a wonderful production ! If you love theatre I highly recommend this tragic tale of a family gripped in lost dreams, resentments and the tyranny of memory. O'Neill's writing is sublime as it quickly cracks the thin veneer of civility between the family members to dive into the emotional layers within. The cheapskate, land owning father who mourns for a lost dramatic career; a declining mother who once fought valiantly against her addiction only to succumb yet again; an embittered elder son who's seen it all before and rails against his parent's expectations of him when they themselves have fallen so far short; and an unwell younger son, weakened by the prospect of an early death through 'consumption' (tuberculosis) now curable if his father would only pony up with the money,
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The Future of Humans as Social Beings in the Face of Rapid Change

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Working independently as a composer, researcher and advisor is my thing. After working in a number of institutions (Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa, University of Auckland, Te Papa) I now work independently and am grateful that I am able to do so. I love the freedom of being myself in my work and not being constrained by structures and constraints around me. I am free to think deeply about Mātauranga Māori, for example, and seek advances for it on its own terms. Being independent does mean taking a risk and being comfortable with uncertain income levels. However, I love being independent, working for myself and the freedom it provides.  Having said that, however, I do maintain a part time role as an advisor at Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland - and I maintain this role for three reasons: First, as its name suggests, the Centre is dedicated to thinking about the future. It is a place where productive discussions and debates about significant issues can take pla
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Critical Thinker, Conspiracy Theorist

The words ‘critical thinker’ and ‘conspiracy theorist’ have been appearing a lot in public and social media of late. Everyday we see a succession of assertions made by one ‘theorist’ or another, one thinker or another - some well founded and cogently argued, others poorly articulated and defended. The experience of Covid-19 in 2020 has brought the question of authoritative and reliable knowledge firmly into the spotlight. In the face of the maelstrom of ideas, rhetoric, assertion and hyperbole that arrive everyday, how does one know what to accept and what to reject? One of the unfortunate (and occasionally dangerous) aspects of the COVID-19 experience in 2020 is the alarming rise in the number of conspiracy theories and theorists that have made their way into the ‘public square’. It is remarkable to note the visibility of these ‘theories’ now and the alarming scale of interest in them. Conspiracy theories are dangerous for they come from a mind that is unwilling to subject its conclus
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