There are signs that Nanaia Mahuta's push for greater consideration of a Māori worldview in foreign affairs is making progress, but success will not be straightforward, as Sam Sachdeva reports
One of the key policy issues in the sixth Labour government has been how to better include Māori perspectives in policy discussions – and the cloistered world of diplomacy has been no exception.
In her first major foreign policy speech, to the diplomatic corps at the Waitangi Day commemorations in 2021, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta put tirohanga Māori (the Māori worldview) at the forefront of her approach to the role, citing “values such as manaaki – kindness or the reciprocity of goodwill; whanaunga – our connectedness or shared sense of humanity; mahi tahi and kotahitanga – collective benefits and shared aspiration; and kaitiaki – protectors and stewards of our intergenerational wellbeing”.
“Each of these values when expressed in a relationship gives a sense that everything is connected and purposeful. What the world needs now is a commitment towards empathy, sustainability, and intergenerational solutions for wellbeing.”
Almost a year on from those remarks, she is confident that approach is beginning to reap rewards.
“We're certainly progressing the way in which foreign policy and taking account of our bicultural values and leaning into our own experience can create different connections with other states and economies around how to deal with indigenous issues.”
Aotearoa’s experiences with the Waitangi Tribunal and royal commissions, along with efforts to grow the Māori economy, can provide “rich context” for other countries who are thinking about how to empower and address historical wrongs against their own indigenous communities, Mahuta says.
Indigenous inclusion was among the priorities for New Zealand’s hosting of the APEC forum in 2021, and in early December, Mahuta and Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced the creation of a new, APEC-based plurilateral agreement – the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement – to promote greater indigenous trade and economic ties.
But Mahuta points out that a focus on indigenous issues is not simply about providing benefit to those communities, but the wider country.
“Truth and reconciliation builds the social fabric of a democracy, but if you think about economic opportunity that could quite easily lead to indigenous cooperation agreements, trade agreements and things like that – so it's a bit of both.”
“It felt like for the first time ever, Māori were actually part of the discussion…we were actually directly involved, got access to all sorts of information, were able to comment on every single piece of text in a way that had never happened before."
But trade was where some of the most notable signs of a Māori foreign policy taking effect appeared in 2021.
In October came the announcement of an agreement in principle between New Zealand and the United Kingdom on a free trade deal, including a standalone indigenous chapter that Mahuta describes as “the first of its kind”.
While the finer details are still to be determined, she believes the chapter, along with the rest of the document, may provide significant gains for Māori.
That view is shared by Chris Karamea Insley, chairman of Te Taumata – a group set up in 2019 as the “first port of call for trade discussions with Māori”.
“It felt like for the first time ever, Māori were actually part of the discussion…we were actually directly involved, got access to all sorts of information, were able to comment on every single piece of text in a way that had never happened before,” Insley says of the UK negotiations, giving credit both to Mahuta and British High Commissioner Laura Clark.
Te Taumata was born out of the sense that Māori did not have a voice in international trade discussions, despite having a significant stake in the success of deals.
“Typically, government officials would go out and consult all over the country, but you'd find if you ever attended any of those meetings, it might be only two or three people attending each week,” Insley says.
“Then they'd sum up all that information to take it back to the minister and say, ‘This is what Māori said’, but they didn't say to the minister that there was really no one at the meeting, and so it would be too simplistic to say that because no one was standing up to those meetings that Māori weren't interested in trade.”
“As Māori, we take a long-term view, so any incremental gains that we might make, say, with the UK one knowing that we're heading into the EU one, and then these others coming, we see these things as cumulative through time – you're never going to get everything you want all at once.”
Te Taumata organised a series of hui where Māori business owners could speak directly with ministers rather than through minions, and saw a steady increase in numbers – from 80 people in Rotorua to 150 in Tairāwhiti and nearly 300 people in Nelson.
“At this point, you know, ministers are all almost clambering all over themselves to get involved and attend these meetings…
“That says that all that trade is hugely important for Māori, and Māori will get involved in these discussions as long as they feel that it's been done right.”
Like Mahuta, Insley says the deal’s broader benefits to Māori exporters will be as important as the indigenous chapter, crediting trade negotiators for the “leap of faith” in welcoming them to the table.
That is not to say Te Taumata got exactly what it wanted: the group had initially advocated for a ‘two-tier’ FTA, with one agreement focusing on the wider benefits for New Zealand and another specifically focused on Māori.
While an indigenous chapter fell somewhat short of that, Insley believes getting the British to agree on even that, when there was little benefit to them in doing so, was a significant step forward.
“As Māori, we take a long-term view, so any incremental gains that we might make, say, with the UK one knowing that we're heading into the EU one, and then these others coming, we see these things as cumulative through time – you're never going to get everything you want all at once.”
Asked whether the indigenous chapter for the UK agreement will set a precedent for future trade negotiations, Mahuta equivocates, noting the unique nature of the relationship between Māori and the Crown.
“It is a natural relationship to try and initiate an indigenous chapter. Is that the standard for every FTA? It may not be, but we were right to pursue that approach with the UK.”
One pre-existing protection of Māori interests in trade deals – the Treaty of Waitangi exception clause – seems likely to face further scrutiny in coming years.
Placed in all recent trade deals to preserve the Government’s “ability to adopt any policy it considers necessary to fulfil its obligations to Māori”, the clause was recently deemed by the Waitangi Tribunal as insufficient to protect Māori data in relation to the e-commerce provisions of the CPTPP trade deal.
“Because mātauranga Māori is at the heart of Māori identity it is not an interest or consideration readily amenable to some form of balancing exercise when set against other trade objectives, or the interests of other citizens and sectors,” the tribunal concluded.
It opted against making any recommendations for the Government, saying ongoing dialogue between Māori and the Crown was the best way forward.
Insley says Te Taumata is seeking technical advice on the tribunal’s ruling and agrees the Government must be mindful of its decision, but cautions against “biting off our nose to spite our face” by seeking to renegotiate the Te Tiriti clause in existing deals and undoing previous gains for Māori.
Mahuta makes a similar point in advocating for a “forward-facing view” on the matter: “How can we, on the back of a progressive trade agenda, start to build in opportunities for indigenous trade, where there may well be the recognition of a treaty clause but with a further deepening of what that might mean?”
“What do I think needs to happen? More of the same, but I'll qualify that: both parties need to be trusting of each other, and that trust only comes with time.”
There also seems a broader tension between the desire to give Māori a greater voice in foreign policy and the unresolved issues around self-determination and governance within New Zealand – illustrated by the polarised response to He Puapua, part of the Government’s efforts to give effect to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
But Mahuta sees that debate as “very much domestically focused and inward-looking”, rather than a complication in regards to her foreign policy work.
Then there is the difficulty of driving cultural change in the public service, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade having only ever been led by white men and enjoying a reputation for elitism that may not mesh well with the desire for a more diverse worldview.
“The ministry, since I've taken on this role, have realized that there was an opportunity to strengthen the diversity of the organisation but also to articulate for this time an organisational culture that is more embracing of Māori culture, and more embracing of diversity,” Mahuta says.
“We haven’t got it perfect,” she adds, while Insley is clear the move towards a more Māori foreign policy has some way to go.
“What do I think needs to happen? More of the same, but I'll qualify that: both parties need to be trusting of each other, and that trust only comes with time.”
