Māori and Minerals: Debating Rights

Abstract

The last decade has seen the government in Aotearoa New Zealand place greater economic focus on exploiting mineral resources. As a result, the matter of Māori rights and interests in relation to these resources is of increased relevance and has become a highly charged national issue. The Waitangi Tribunal (‘Tribunal’) has released a number of reports since 1991 that discuss and make recommendations on Māori rights in relation to various mineral resources including pounamu (greenstone), petroleum and gold. This thesis critically analyses the jurisprudence and associated discourse developed by the Tribunal regarding Māori rights and interests in relation to minerals. The Tribunal’s reports are currently underexplored, yet are vital to understanding the issues, complexities and obstacles associated with claims to mineral rights, not only for Māori but for other Indigenous peoples. This is because the inconsistent approaches and recommendations produced by the Tribunal highlight different ways in which arguments about Māori rights in relation to minerals can be conceived and constructed. The core focus of this thesis is on identifying the legal arguments by which Māori claims to minerals rights in each of the Tribunal reports have been considered, recognised, limited, and/or transformed. This thesis then analyses how the Crown responded to the Tribunal’s reports, and how the Crown and iwi have engaged with each other and the Tribunal over the matter of mineral rights through the Treaty settlement process and the review and subsequent amendment of the primary legislation governing minerals, the Crown Minerals Act 1991 (CMA). In so doing, this thesis provides a picture of Māori rights in relation to minerals, and highlights the unresolved issues between Māori and the Crown through the lens of the Tribunal and its discourse.