Tino rangatiratanga The term ‘tino rangatiratanga’ was asserted and guaranteed in He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene, the Declaration of the Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand, agreed in 1835.20 He Wakaputanga uses the term ‘tino rangatiratanga’ in Article 2, which is translated as independence, referring to whenua as country.21 In Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori were guaranteed te tino rangatiratanga, translated22 as full chiefly authority over their whenua (land), kāinga (homes) and taonga katoa. The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) also makes specific reference to self-determination in Article 3: “Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.”23 While New Zealand opposed the UNDRIP Declaration when it was adopted by the United Nations in 2007, the Kāwanatanga later endorsed the Declaration in 2010. The phrase ‘tino rangatiratanga’ has been translated more recently by Te Aka, the online Māori dictionary, as self-determination, autonomy, self-government as well as sovereignty and control, which implies that, in terms of accountability, Māori are responsible to Māori and acting for Māori. When Māori are accountable to Māori through the process of tikanga Māori, this is an expression or practice of rangatiratanga. Therefore, at the national level, a model of rangatira governance together with accountability would occur if Māori were responsible to Māori rather than as part of a governmental or other structure that is accountable to the Kāwana. Professor Leonie Pihama has stated, “The Crown and its associated agencies do not enact rangatiratanga, only we enact rangatiratanga”.24 Māori making decisions for Māori is an expression of rangatiratanga. As described by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, rangatiratanga is the principle of selfdetermination.25 This is consistent with the Waitangi Tribunal, which reaffirms how Māori communities protect and strengthen themselves through the exercise of tino rangatiratanga.26 Drawing on the whakaaro shared by Professor Leonie Pihama, we as Māori must recognise that despite the imposition of colonial systems, tino rangatiratanga is rooted in te ao Māori and has been operating in accordance with tikanga for centuries. As an example of application in contemporary spheres, a recently circulated manual for understanding mental health to guide practitioners refers to tino rangatiratanga as a taha wairua (spiritual) health dimension.27 Governments since the time of Prime Ministers George Forbes and Michael Joseph Savage have used terms that aim to come to terms with Te Tiriti while not directly addressing self-determination. Wording such as “the spirit and the letter of the Treaty”28 as well as the principles of the Treaty were used and later debated along with their “practical application” in the 1970s.29 The Waitangi Tribunal and recent legislation have referred to the principles of the Treaty, and local governments and others have explored a range of principles.30 Examples of Treaty of Waitangi principles are those listed on the Ministry of Health website, which provides for how the Ministry meets its obligations under Te Tiriti.31 The list of principles 17