India NZ FTA Fails The Interim Tiriti O Waitangi Assessment - Nga Toki Whakarururanga

The proposed India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has failed to meet the Crown’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, according to an interim assessment by Ngā Toki Whakarururanga. The assessment raises serious concerns about transparency, Māori participation in negotiations, and the continued use of a flawed Treaty Exception — issues that call into question whether the agreement can genuinely protect Māori rights and interests.

Background: Tiriti o Waitangi Assessments in Trade Agreements

Usually at this stage of a trade negotiation, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga would have prepared a Tiriti o Waitangi assessment of the recently concluded free trade agreement between India and New Zealand, based on having confidential access to the negotiating text.

It has become practice for these Tiriti assessments to be included as annexes to the Crown’s own National Interest Analysis (NIA) that is tabled in Parliament with the treaty text when it is signed.

Preparing Tiriti o Waitangi assessments is part of the Mediation Agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry on the TPPA, now represented by Ngā Toki Whakarururanga.

The Mediation Agreement also promises to ensure that Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has genuine and meaningful influence on such negotiations.

“Regrettably, the Indian Government made this impossible by repeatedly rejecting requests from the Crown to share the text with us,” according to Aroha Mead, a member of the entity’s governing Kāihatū and an advisor on these negotiations.

“The Crown did create an opportunity for dialogue with some of India’s negotiators when they met in Queenstown in September last year, but we were unable to engage formally with Indigenous Peoples (Adivasi) in India.”

Interim Tiriti Assessment Finds Process Failed Māori Obligations

Without access to the text, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga has had to prepare an Interim assessment.

Ms Mead reports that “our interim assessment found the negotiating process failed to meet the Crown’s Tiriti obligations.”

Rejection of New Tiriti Protection and Retention of Flawed Treaty Exception

“We are also deeply disappointed that a new Tiriti protection co-designed with the Crown to provide effective protection of Māori rights, interests and responsibilities, appears to have been rejected, and the flawed Treaty Exception dating back to 2001 has been retained”.

“It remains unclear what other recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is in the agreement, but there appears to be very little, if any”.

Missed Opportunities for Māori–India Collaboration

“The interim assessment also outlines our proposals to build on areas of common interest with India and develop innovative approaches that will be a win-win for everyone, such as food and seed sovereignty, data sovereignty, traditional knowledge, ayurveda and rongoā, and intellectual property rights.”

“MFAT’s summary makes general reference to several of these, but without the precise wording, levels of commitment and enforceability, we are unable to assess hence the implications for Māori.”

The interim assessment, should at least, be included in the NIA. A more substantive assessment will have to await release of the text, which won’t happen until after it has been signed and the Crown has presented its version of the outcome.

Lack of Transparency Raises Concerns for Māori Outcomes

Ms Mead concludes that “this has not been a good process. It has lacked transparency and it is difficult to see how this could possibly signal a good outcome for Māori interests, given that every effort for Māori to have an effective role in the negotiation was thwarted.”