Waitangi Tribunal fast-tracks kaupapa inquiry into justice system
Monday, 29 November 2021
A wide scale review of how the justice system has impacted Māori has been brought forward by the Waitangi Tribunal.
The kaupapa inquiry into claims concerning the justice system will be presided over by Judge Carrie Wainwright.
Waitangi Tribunal chairperson Judge Wilson Isaac said the inquiry into the justice system was initially listed late in the order of 13 inquiries the tribunal was set to undertake.
“However, I indicated that the emerging stronger focus on contemporary kaupapa issues would require the tribunal to be flexible and responsive in reordering the inquiry programme should claimant and Crown priorities change,” he said in a briefing obtained under the Official Information Act.
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“For a number of years, justice sector issues have been the subject of applications to the tribunal for an urgent hearing. Since 2000, four urgent inquiries have been held, each concerning specific claims of national scope.”
Isaac said in recent years there had been further requests for urgent inquiries that were yet to be heard, over issues such as access to legal aid, the prosecution of Māori offenders, police armed response teams, and police use of firearms and tasers.
In a briefing sent to Police Minister Poto Williams in August, police said the inquiry “will likely become a focal point for several recent tribunal claims involving police that relate to contemporary issues (such as Armed Response Teams), as well as wider concerns, such as alleged institutional racism and bias in justice sector organisations, and alleged discrimination against Māori arising from policing policies and practices”.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has admitted that unconscious bias exists within police, but has refused to admit any racism within the staff ranks, or in outcomes for individuals.
The police briefing specifically refers to “alleged discrimination”. Police have commissioned their own independent inquiry which seeks to identify “whether, where, and to what extent bias exists at a system level” within the organisation.
Isaac said the kaupapa inquiry would have a wide scope.
“The thematic focus of the inquiry will be on the administration of justice. The justice-related issues raised in registered claims are wide-ranging.”
He listed issues that had not been fully settled or heard that would be part of the inquiry.
“A lack of recognition of tikanga Māori as a source of law in the common law regime; discrimination against Māori in the statutory and institutional framework for the administration of justice in colonial and modern times; institutional racism and bias in the policy and practice of justice sector organisations; access to justice, including legal aid … and claimant funding for progressing Treaty-based claims and rights; discrimination against Māori in policing policy and practice; and prison conditions and the treatment of Māori remand and sentenced prisoners.”
The inquiry is open to all claimants who wish to be heard, Isaac said, as long as they haven’t already had a claim that was disposed of.
The tribunal has identified 61 current claims that raise grievances with the justice system, and are eligible to participate in the inquiry if they wish.
That includes a claim regarding the 2007 Urewera raids, several legal aid claims, one on police Armed Response Teams, and several claims regarding Waikeria Prison.
It’s anticipated the full kaupapa inquiry will take years to complete.
A similar kaupapa inquiry into the health sector preceded the development of a Māori Health Authority, which will launch on July 1, 2022.