Kāwana accountability to Tangata Whenua 3 Rangatiratanga Kāwanatanga Tangata Whenua Kāwana Kāwanatanga The Kāwana considers its responsibilities to Māori in the enactment of the legislation, especially more recent laws where such responsibility is explicitly stated – for example, the Ministry for the Environment and oversight of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). This fits the constructive accountability process in terms of monitoring, review, and remediation. However, although accountabilities are identified in the RMA, at Kāwana and local government level, accountability is weak or lacking and mechanisms for redress do not satisfy Māori concerns. As Hudson and Russell note: “Over the years, Māori have made repeated claims to the Waitangi Tribunal that their rights, as guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi, have been breached … [and] the State has an obligation to both recognise Māori aspirations for self-determination and protect the interests of Māori.”78 While this may be intended through legislation, the response to Māori, that is, the Kāwana accountability to Māori, requires strengthening. This systemic failure can be explained by different ways of knowing and doing, and “to ignore the reality of inter-cultural differences is to live with outdated notions”.79 34 An example relating to lack of responsiveness or application of the RMA is the conflict of values of whenua as a commodity and as an identity for Māori. Both the Human Rights Commissioner and the Auditor-General have drawn attention to accountability. In his report on public accountability the Auditor-General stated: The way we think about public accountability needs to change. Long-term stewardship of New Zealanders’ well-being needs to be valued as much as short-term management of current issues.80 The Auditor-General’s comments refer to the way in which all public organisations demonstrate to Parliament and the public their competence, reliability, and honesty in using public money and resources. However, although this is vital for the Kāwana and the public sector, in this Kāwana system, Te Tiriti is not recognised and “accountability arrangements related to Te Tiriti continue to evolve”.81 This report did Te Kāhui Tika Tangata New Zealand Human Rights Commission Housing Inquiry