In the 1980s, the tribunal underwent significant change. It adopted a bicultural approach to its inquiries, and its jurisdiction was expanded to include historical claims back to 1840. The tribunal also issued a number of landmark reports that reflected its growing importance as an institution.
Bicultural process
In 1980 the original chair of the tribunal, Judge Gillanders-Scott, was replaced by Eddie Taihakurei Durie (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Raukawa) and in 1982, one of the other original members, Lawrence Southwick, was replaced by lawyer Paul Temm. At that time only seven claims had been investigated and when Temm was first asked to join the tribunal, he had not heard of it. The tribunal began to hear more claims under a bicultural process that aimed, according to Temm, to ‘marry informality with fairness’.1 Sittings were now held on the claimants’ marae and those who wished to give evidence in te reo Māori could do so, with translation facilities provided so all present could understand.
Sea and life
In 1982, for the first time, the Waitangi Tribunal held a hearing on a marae belonging to a claimant iwi – Te Āti Awa of Taranaki. The iwi spokesperson, Aila Taylor, and other witnesses gave evidence that their tradition of gathering shellfish on offshore reefs was essential to providing hospitality and for mana. The tribunal condemned the planners of a proposed industrial waste outfall for failing to consider the Māori attitude to water as a source of food.
Investigating historical claims
In 1985, the fourth Labour government significantly extended the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal, which was given the power to investigate claims from the date of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. The number of tribunal members was increased from three to seven (and then to 17 in 1988), with at least four to be of Māori ancestry. Another seven were appointed as deputy or alternate members. The tribunal gained research and administrative staff. It remained an advisory body, with no power to enforce its recommendations to the government.
Political leaders at the time believed that claims would be few in number and largely focused on land confiscation. They did not foresee the avalanche of claims from iwi and hapū groups across the country, or the range of Crown actions that Māori considered had breached the treaty.
Landmark claims and reports
In its early years, the tribunal reported on contemporary issues ranging from environmental concerns to the Māori language. From 1983 a series of landmark cases brought the tribunal to the forefront of public and political life.
Motunui (1983): The Taranaki synthetic fuel plant, which was partly Crown-owned, planned to discharge untreated sewage and industrial waste into the sea at Motunui, near Waitara. Local Te Āti Awa people had gathered shellfish from the affected area for generations and feared pollution of these traditional food sources. In 1983 the tribunal upheld their objections and recommended channelling the outfall to a sewage treatment plant. The government reluctantly accepted this recommendation.
Kaituna River (1984): Māori traditional fishing rights were again upheld in 1984. Claimants objected to a proposal to discharge treated sewage from Rotorua into an eel fishery in the Kaituna River. The scheme was stopped as a result of the tribunal’s findings.
Manukau (1985): The tribunal reported on a claim on behalf of the people of the Manukau Harbour. It concerned pollution of seafood resources and loss of surrounding land from confiscations after the New Zealand wars and for public works. The tribunal’s findings helped bring about the Resource Management Act 1991, which made statutory allowance for Māori environmental concerns. Two local iwi were named as consultant guardians of Manukau Harbour.
Te Reo Māori (1986): The tribunal’s report recommended that te reo Māori should become an official language of New Zealand, and that a newly created body should supervise and foster its use and preservation. These recommendations resulted in the Māori Language Act 1987 (which made Māori an official language), the establishment of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission), and increased Māori-language broadcasting.
Ōrākei (1987): In response to what was effectively a sequel to Joe Hawke’s 1977 claim on fisheries regulation, the tribunal explored the historical aspects of the Ōrākei claim and found in favour of the claimants. It recommended that land, including Takaparawhau Bastion Point, should be returned to Ngāti Whātua in tribal ownership, and that Takaparawhau Bastion Point should remain public open space administered jointly by Ngāti Whātua and Auckland City Council. It also recommended an award of $3 million to Ngāti Whātua – the first cash payment recommended as part of a treaty settlement. The government accepted all the tribunal’s recommendations.