Episode notes
Kia ora and welcome to A Kiwi Perspective. I’m Graham and today we turn our gaze across the Tasman to Australia — a country that carries a heavy burden of history, cultural erasure and the ongoing fight for justice by its First Nations people. While our shared history in the Pacific Ocean has brought similarities between New Zealand and Australia, there is one glaring difference: Australia has never had a treaty with its Indigenous people. And the implications of this absence are felt in every facet of Aboriginal life.
Aotearoa, by contrast, at least has the Treaty of Waitangi — signed in 1840 — which is both a legal and moral foundation for Māori as tangata whenua, the people of the land. This treaty has not been without its flaws, and the relationship it facilitates is still an ongoing negotiation, but it remains a symbol of acknowledgmen ...