M?ori and Parliament: Diverse Strategies and Compromises

New Zealand is at a watershed in its constitutional and political arrangements. There are three events looming in the short term which suggest that the status of Maori in Parliament is in for significant challenge. The first is the impending review of constitutional issues and the Maori seats as part of the National Party-Maori Party ‘Relationship and Confidence and Supply Agreement’. Secondly, the proposed referendum on the future of the mixed member proportional system (MMP) could also have significant implications for Maori. Finally, the longer term question of whether New Zealand should become a republic continues to haunt New Zealand’s political imagination, and would also necessitate lengthy debates about the place of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements in relation to Maori rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Maori and Parliament provides a comprehensive and enlightening context for understanding both the historical and contemporary relationship between Maori and Parliament and highlights many of the issues which would arise in any discussion of New Zealand constitutional reform. Maori and Parliament is a collection of nineteen presentations and papers from twenty-one academics, political commentators and current and former parliamentarians and is the result of the Maori and Parliament conference held at Parliament in May 2009.