Claims of engagement with Te Tiriti have been reviewed in a desktop critical Tiriti analysis (CTA) of Te Pae Tata: the Interim New Zealand Health Plan. The CTA followed five stages from orientation, close reading, determination, strengthening practice, to the Māori final word. Results showed that Te Pae Tata proactively engaged with Te Tiriti across the entirety of the plan. Te Tiriti elements of the preamble were assessed as follows: kāwanatanga and tino rangatiratanga (“fair”), ōritetanga (“good”) and wairuatanga (“poor”). The authors noted that engaging more substantively with Te Tiriti requires the Crown to recognise that Māori never ceded sovereignty and treaty principles are not equivalent to the authoritative Māori text. To allow monitoring of progress, recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal WAI 2575 and Haumaru reports must be explicitly addressed.
