Te ao Māori is a Queer Utopia – Tessa Keenan
Tessa Keenan reflects on how te ao Māori is a queer utopia built for takatāpui inclusion. read more
Te Kori a te Kō: marae-led responses to climate change – Amiria Tikao
Amiria Tikao explores marae-led responses to climate change. read more
Reasserting tino rangatiratanga over immigration and Māori-Tauiwi relations – Aria Ngarimu
Aria Ngarimu writes about reasserting tino rangatiratanga over immigration and Māori-tauiwi relations as a mechanism for decolonisation. read more
Ngā tai ngunguru – Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 – Tawheta Hautapu
Tawheta Hautapu (Ngāti Raukawa) writes about the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 as a pathway for Māori to have their customary rights to their marine and coastal areas recognised under New Zealand law and the challenge of choosing how to react to Crown proposals to limit that recognition. read more
The burden and distraction of reactive legal work: the current Government’s impact on the Māori legal community – Kelly Mitchell
Kelly Mitchell explores how responding to "one-system" approaches is reactive work that is a burden and distraction from a future focus and proactive stance on gains for Māori rights. read more
The struggles of submission writing under the coalition government – Kaea Hudson
Kaea Hudson writes about the burden and struggle of writing submissions about law reform by the current coalition Government. read more
Remember the work of those who built the Waitangi Tribunal, e hoa mā, so that we may protect it – Hannah Nathan
Hannah Nathan (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Rereahu, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāi Tahu) writes about whether right now is a moment equivalent to other defining periods in the Māori Renaissance and asks what should be done now. read more
Māori, the law, and the ethic of restoration – Ella Young
Ella Young considers the ethic of restoration and warns about slipping into roles that are just noise. read more
Care of children – section 7AA is worth fighting for, but we must remember it is not rangatiratanga
On the 21st of May 2024, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill had its first reading in Parliament. The Bill seeks to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, which is the Treaty of Waitangi provision within that legislation. Section 7AA requires the government to take a number of steps aimed at upholding Te Tiriti and reducing disparities for Māori within the child protection system. As a result, its planned repeal has been met with widespread opposition from Māori, including a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.
In this article, Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown* argues that those advocates are right to oppose the repeal of section 7AA, but that equally, we should not equate section 7AA with the full realisation of tino rangatiratanga over kainga protected by Te Tiriti. The provision falls far short of that. In light of broader efforts to diminish the influence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in law and policy, the damage the current child protection system does to Māori, and the possibility that section 7AA provides a pathway for tino rangatiratanga to be realised in future, section 7AA is still worth saving, but we must keep that wider context in mind. read more
Tikanga – its influence on work by Te Aka Matua o te Ture | the Law Commission
In the course of working on the study paper He Poutama (NZLC SP24) addressing the legal dimensions of tikanga, Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission came to examine its own earlier work to identify the influence of tikanga on that work. This article collects together that research.
Tāneora Fraser*
Tikanga Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand law – He Poutama explored in detail – part three: future engagement
He Poutama
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission
Pūrongo Rangahau | Study Paper 24 (SP24)
21 Mahuru | September 2023
He Poutama is a study paper by Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission. The paper aims to provide frameworks for the interaction between tikanga Māori and common law and statute. Members of Bell Gully’s Te Paewhiti Ture are working with the Māori Law Review to publish a series of articles on He Poutama addressing some of the detail of the Commission’s paper. This is the third article. Go here for the first article and here for the second article.
By members of Te Paewhiti Ture, Bell Gully: Rachael Brown, Dr Laura Hardcastle, Rhianna Morar (Ngāti Porou, Tapuika, Gujarat) and Nikorima Nuttall (Raukawa ki Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere)
Download He Poutama (5.56 MB) read more
Book review – Treaty Law: principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in law and practice
Treaty Law: principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in law and practice
Damen Ward, Kevin Hille, and Carwyn Jones
Thompson Reuters, New Zealand, 2023 (ISBN 9781991102300)
Reviewed by Roimata Smail*, barrister. read more
2024 Māori Appellate Court judgments – index
This table lists the 2024 judgments of the Māori Appellate Court and contains links to reports about the decisions once decisions are released.
For other years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023. Follow this link for the 2024 Māori Land Court judgments index.
Māori interests in natural resource management: 2023 in review
Chelsea Easter, Francesca Dykes, and Dave Randal review legal developments from 2023 relating to Māori interests in natural resources.
Tikanga Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand law – He Poutama explored in detail – part two: interaction between tikanga and state law
He Poutama
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission
Pūrongo Rangahau | Study Paper 24 (SP24)
21 Mahuru | September 2023
He Poutama is a study paper by Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission. The paper aims to provide frameworks for the interaction between tikanga Māori and common law and statute. Members of Bell Gully’s Te Paewhiti Ture are working with the Māori Law Review to publish a series of articles on He Poutama addressing some of the detail of the Commission’s paper. This is the second article. Go here for the first article and here for the third and final article.
By members of Te Paewhiti Ture, Bell Gully: Rachael Brown, Dr Laura Hardcastle, Rebekah Te Rito (Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Kahungunu), Rhianna Morar (Ngāti Porou, Tapuika, Gujarat) and Stuart Leslie (Ngāpuhi)
Download He Poutama (5.56 MB) read more
Tikanga Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand law – He Poutama explored in detail – part one: tikanga
He Poutama
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission
Pūrongo Rangahau | Study Paper 24 (SP24)
21 Mahuru | September 2023
He Poutama is a study paper by Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission. The paper aims to provide frameworks for the interaction between tikanga Māori and common law and statute. Members of Bell Gully’s Te Paewhiti Ture are working with the Māori Law Review to publish a series of articles on He Poutama addressing some of the detail of the Commission’s paper. This is the first article. Go here for the second article and here for the third and final article.
By members of Te Paewhiti Ture, Bell Gully: Rachael Brown, Dr Laura Hardcastle, Rhianna Morar (Ngāti Porou, Tapuika, Gujarat), Nikorima Nuttall (Raukawa ki Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere) and Brontë Tuffery (Ngāti Toa Rangatira)
Download He Poutama (5.56 MB)
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2023 – The Taranaki Maunga settlement has blunted prospects for use of legal personality
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2023
The Taranaki Maunga settlement has blunted prospects for use of legal personality
Harry Waddington
2024 Waitangi Tribunal decisions – index
This table lists selected decisions and reports of the Waitangi Tribunal from 2024.
2023 General Election and government formation
The Electoral Commission released the final results of the 14 October general election on 16 November 2023 and supplemented the results with more detailed analysis of voting behaviour in December 2023. read more
Tikanga Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand law – He Poutama
He Poutama
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission
Pūrongo Rangahau | Study Paper 24 (SP24)
21 Mahuru | September 2023
Download He Poutama (5.56 MB) read more
Pūnaha whakawā – criminal justice – sentencing – causative contribution of background – Berkland
Berkland v R
Supreme Court [2022] NZSC 143
7 December 2022
The Supreme Court's decisions in this case address the relevance of causative contributions from an offender's background in sentencing for serious criminal offending . The appellants, Mr Berkland and Mr Harding, were sentenced for various offences related to their involvement in separate large-scale methamphetamine operations in New Zealand.
Download Berkland v R (459 KB PDF).
Māori interests in natural resource management: 2022 in review
Chelsea Easter, Francesca Dykes, Sam Kenneally, and Dave Randal review legal developments from 2022 relating to Māori interests in natural resources.
Book review – The Constitution of New Zealand: A Contextual Analysis
The Constitution of New Zealand: A Contextual Analysis
Matthew SR Palmer and Dean R Knight
Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2022 (ISBN9781849469036)
Reviewed by Mihiata Pirini, law lecturer at University of Otago. read more
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2022 – Te Ture o Takutai Moana kei muri i te kēhi o Re Edwards: examining approaches to overlapping claims for customary marine title
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2022
Te Ture o Takutai Moana kei muri i te kēhi o Re Edwards: examining approaches to overlapping claims for customary marine title
William Morrison*