The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care challenges the coalition government with its call to honour te Tiriti o Waitangi amid a backdrop of systemic racism and historical abuse.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has concluded, and its comprehensive report, rich with references to te Tiriti o Waitangi and its guiding principles, presents a significant challenge for the coalition government, which is currently reviewing the inclusion of these principles in legislation. How the government will navigate and implement the report’s recommendations, if at all, promises to be a matter of intense public interest and scrutiny.

As part of its terms of reference, the commission was directed to apply te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles to its work. The first paragraph on the inquiry’s website discusses its commitment to te Tiriti o Waitangi, acknowledging the disproportionate representation of Māori in care and stating that the inquiry was underpinned by te Tiriti.

Among the report’s 138 recommendations, there are two pertaining to te Tiriti o Waitangi that Māori will be particularly interested in seeing the government’s response to. Recommendation 126 effectively says state and faith-based entities should collaborate with iwi to implement the inquiry’s recommendations in accordance with te Tiriti o Waitangi and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), ensuring they reflect Māori rights, needs,and experiences, uphold tino rangatiratanga, and empower hapū, iwi and Māori organisations to care for their whānau and create solutions.

Recommendation 129 says the government should ensure that appointments to governance and advisory roles for implementing the inquiry’s recommendations and holistic redress recommendations reflect survivor experience, the diversity of people in care, and give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi.

With the principles of Te Tiriti being so integral to the investigation and its subsequent recommendations, the response to the report from the likes of David Seymour, Shane Jones, and even Paul Goldsmith will be particularly interesting. All three of these senior ministers have made their views known on te Tiriti o Waitangi, its principles, and the effects of colonisation.

Structural racism is highlighted in the report as one of the contributing factors that led to the ongoing systemic abuse of people in care over the period of the inquiry (1950-1999). Since coming to power last October, the coalition government has seemingly been on a crusade against Māori rights and interests. The disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori wards bill (which passed its second reading this week), preference for English names for governmental agencies, and Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, which National has agreed to support to select committee stage, are just some of the controversial policies introduced by the government over the last eight months. New Zealand First is also driving a review intended to remove generic references to te Tiriti o Waitangi in legislation.

With the report highlighting the ongoing failure of successive governments to give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi, the current government’s actions could be interpreted as repeating the mistakes of the past. In the midst of the inquiry, it is choosing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, while simultaneously acknowledging that the agency is broken. By removing the one part of the act requiring the agency to uphold its te Tiriti obligations, the government risks perpetuating the systemic issues identified in the report. As the report states, it was the government’s failure to uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi that led to Māori being placed in the care of state or faith-based institutions and subsequently suffering abuse.

“Had whānau Māori been able to fully realise the exercise of their tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake as envisaged by te Tiriti o Waitangi, tamariki, rangatahi and pakeke Māori would not have needed care from the state or faith-based institutions in the first place,” read the report, “and those who did need care (outside of their whānau) would be served by their hapū, iwi, or hāpori Māori.”

The government has also reinstated boot camps for youth offenders, despite a lack of evidence around their effectiveness and the known historical issues with such programmes. The inquiry highlighted these as places where some of our nation’s worst historical abuse took place. Re-establishing them could lead to a new generation of children being needlessly traumatised and abused at the hands of the state.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Paati Māori, was heavily criticised by members of parliament on both sides of the political spectrum for her comments about the government’s “mission to exterminate Māori”. However, the language being used by the government and the policies it is implementing are eerily similar to ideologies highlighted by the inquiry as key contributing factors to the attempted assimilation of Māori and loss of mātauranga Māori. While the report stopped short of labelling the past events cultural genocide, it did say there were strong parallels between what happened to Māori and the cultural genocide of First Nations people in Australia and Canada.

With Māori being disproportionately represented in the survivor population and some early estimates for redress in the billions, it will be interesting to see how those who are vocally opposed to cultural redress for historical Treaty breaches will react to the financial redress recommended by the inquiry. Will the public perceive the redress for abuse in care as another “handout” for Māori, given their disproportionate representation among victims? This perception could potentially fuel divisive narratives and detract from the report’s intention to address historical injustices comprehensively.

The commission’s findings expose structural racism, mirroring today’s government policies that often sideline te Tiriti principles. This raises doubts about the leaders’ real commitment to tackling these deep-rooted issues. A selective approach to te Tiriti won’t cut it. To truly honour the report’s recommendations, the government needs to fully embrace and integrate te Tiriti o Waitangi in all its actions.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.