To mark the death of Moana Jackson we look at the growing debate around co-governance in New Zealand, Justin Giovannetti writes in The Bulletin.

A leading voice on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori rights has died.

“E te whatukura, haere e koro, haere atu ra.” Marama Davidson told The Spinoff that she struggled to write her feelings in response to the news Moana Jackson died yesterday. A number of other New Zealanders shared their thoughts on the death of the esteemed lawyer and one of Aotearoa’s most prominent teachers. His work cut across the country, advancing Māori rights through education, law and academia. He helped draft the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document adopted by most of humanity that will continue to shake and redefine colonial states for generations to come. Te Ao Māori News reported on the fingerprints he’s left on modern New Zealand. His sister-in-law and urban Māori advocate Dame Temuranga June Batley-Jackson died on Monday.

‘Deep respect for the mana of all people.’

Among the voices writing about Jackson yesterday was Leonie Hayden. Here’s some of what she shared:

“When I woke up this morning I wondered why the tūī sang so loudly. I know now they were sharing the news that a great tōtara has fallen in Te Wao nui a Tāne. Moana taught me that gentleness and bravery belong together; that you can walk softly in the domain of Tūmatauenga. He taught me that a mind is a weapon, but that it must be kept sharp with compassion and a deep respect for the mana of all people.”

Co-governance between Māori and Crown is now solidly on the country’s political agenda.

Jo Moir writes for Newsroom that the debate over co-governance won’t go away before the next election. Act is now calling for a public referendum on the broad concept of shared decision-making, while the government is pushing forward with a number of shared programmes. They include a new Māori Health Authority, a shared model for three waters governance and more consultations on implementing the Undrip document that Jackson helped write. Cabinet is expected to weigh feedback later this month on how to implement a work programme for co-governance. Breaking with his predecessor’s Demand the Debate campaign, National leader Christopher Luxon told RNZ the time isn’t right for a referendum on co-governance.

Are we ‘brave and imaginative enough’ to solve this?

This can be a difficult debate and all the colonial states built on indigenous land will need to have it, sooner or later. New Zealand First has already stated a firm position that the talk is separatist. David Seymour spoke to The Hui about why he wants a referendum, warning that co-governance will end liberal democracy in Aotearoa. John Tamihere argues that the current system has failed Māori and is itself separatist. Writing in the NZ Herald (paywalled), Tamihere says that Māori want to be empowered to break from dependency on welfare.

However the final word, in this short story, goes to Moana Jackson. He spoke at Victoria University in 2018 about an aspect of co-governance. Jackson opened with the thought-provoking question of whether New Zealand was “brave and imaginative enough” to stop insisting on one law for all.

Revealing deeper climate rumblings, NIWA warns that the country’s glaciers are fast slipping away, Justin Giovannetti writes in The Bulletin.

Many of the country’s glaciers will be gone in a decade.

NIWA scientists sounded a warning in recent days after the annual end-of-summer survey found snow and ice in retreat across New Zealand. The country has fewer than 3,000 glaciers, most on the South Island. Those that remain are growing smaller and skeletal. “What we’re seeing is a clear retreat, which is no doubt thanks to climate change,” NIWA’s principal scientist told 1News. The ongoing loss of glaciers will have a profound impact on the country’s landscape, tourism and increase risks of drought. The Franz Josef and Fox glaciers are at a higher elevation and will last longer than most, but even they are in rapid decline.

The world’s climate has been acting increasingly oddly.

The Conger ice shelf, twice the size of Auckland, completely collapsed in Antarctica earlier this month. It followed simultaneous heatwaves above the north pole, with temperatures 30C above normal, and Antarctica, where it was 40C above expected levels. Scientific American writes that Conger’s collapse could be a warning that the climate breakdown is accelerating. The unusual heatwaves at the planet’s ends are just the latest in a series of extreme weather events. The Spinoff reported on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s warning of worsening climate patterns in a bleak report released last month. The next IPCC report is due on Monday and is expected to focus on mitigating climate change.

To avoid the worst climate damage, New Zealand is working on a plan to tackle our largest polluter: agriculture.

The prime minister was expected the meet with the farming advocacy group Groundswell this week to discuss agricultural emissions, but the group pulled out. Stuff reports that Groundswell objected to meeting the prime minister along with other agricultural groups. It wants a one-on-one sit down with Jacinda Ardern. With a plan to tackle agricultural emissions expected within months, a rift has opened between farming groups. Groundswell wants no price on emissions and more funding for research, putting it at odds with other established groups and the country’s international obligations. There’s also a growing debate within National, with the party’s new economics advisor arguing that deep cuts to carbon pollution aren’t required at all. Olivia Wannan wrote for Stuff about the ongoing argument about whether to cut emissions or just plant trees (and more). 

Australia’s climate response is going the wrong way.

Our neighbour across the Tasman is once again facing heavy rains and flooding. There’s been a constant drumbeat of deadly weather across Australia this year. Defence and security officials warned the government in Canberra this month that climate change is that country’s greatest threat, DW reports. Scott Morrison’s government, behind in the polls and facing a difficult reelection, splashed billions on new spending and tax cuts in a budget this week. What didn’t do so well was climate change. The Guardian reports that the budget proposes cutting annual spending on clean energy by 35% over the next four years.

There are numerous reasons why governments should take climate change seriously, from massive ice sheets to tiny mosquitoes. In one small but detailed slice, Eloise Gibson writes in Stuff that the only thing keeping an outbreak of dengue fever out of New Zealand is the country’s colder climate. It’s quite a story looking at the struggle to keep mozzies out.