Super breach of Te Tiriti

Midst all the benefit debates we’re having at the moment, and despite evidence our current situation is unaffordable, John Key has held firm on not raising the age we can receive superannuation.  New Zealand doesn’t agree, with other political parties saying we need to have the discussion about raising the threshold age to 67 – and that this should not be a party-political issue.

If we raise the threshold age to 67, Maori men will be eligible for Super for three years, and Maori women for eight.  Non-Maori men on the other hand, will be grabbing hold of this universal benefit for 12 years, and non-Maori women for 15 years.

So non-Maori live just over eight years longer than Maori.  The gap has lessened in the last 70 years, but reports on early contact between Maori and Europeans suggest Maori had a higher life expectancy than the British around the time of Captain Cook’s visits.

We are beginning to have a debate about Super without even acknowledging we’re basically talking about making sure non-Maori are well-looked after retirement.  When Mana raised this last year, their solution – that the age of Super be lowered for Maori to 60 – did not receive serious consideration.  But what is fair here?  How do we ensure this “universal” benefit can be accessed equitably?

The Treaty – both the Maori text and the English text – clearly guarantee Maori the same rights and privileges as British subjects.  How does that work with our Superannuation scheme?  And if it doesn’t work, is redress due to Maori on the grounds that this is pure and simple discrimination, directly traceable to the impacts of colonisation?  Is this a Super breach of Te Tiriti?

after the world cup

a quick link to an excellent piece by marama davidson on what happens for maori after the rugby world cup. below is an excerpt, but i really recommend clicking through and reading the whole piece:

I come from a long line of avid rugby supporters. My father, brother and sister have all played to respectable levels and my three and five year old sons play every Saturday morning. A love for theatre and performance also courses through my veins thanks to being born into ‘the industry’ and lastly I claim lineage to the longest line of Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa and Ngāti Porou upstarts. On Friday night I watched gloriously as my rugby fanatic, drama loving, tāngata whenua staked backgrounds all melded effortlessly. Let me be clear – I was a proud Kiwi that night.

But what happens when the world is no longer watching?

We will still be left questioning the partnership and sovereignty guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi and further advocated for in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Where is that sovereignty given the loud and clear opposition from members of Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Taranaki and Taitokerau Iwi to fracking, mining and deep sea oil drilling? I am not proud of my country for this.

That same partnership can be called into question around the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011. There is not much to be proud of either in the final Act that was passed or in the race relations damage that fell out of the discourse around the Bill before it was passed.

We will still be left with the questions around justice and a damaged Crown/Tuhoe relationship thanks to the Urewera raids of 2007. I am not proud of our country for that.