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• Consultation With Mäori Women

Preface

The primary purpose of this report is to assist those involved in New Zealand’s justice institutions, particularly those who are employed by the state and on whom the Crown depends in the performance of its Treaty obligations, to understand and respond better to the needs and values of Mäori women.

We are not aware of any other research that has specifically focused on Mäori women as clients or users of justice sector services. We accept that many of the problems identified in this report could apply equally to Mäori men. This report does not preclude future work on their specific needs.

The terms of reference, approved by the Minister of Justice in September 1995, are as follows:

WOMEN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE : HE PUTANGA MO NGÄ WAHINE KI TE TIKA
The Law Commission: Te Aka Matua o te Ture will examine the response of the legal system to the experiences of women in New Zealand, recognising the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi in the examination of Mäori women’s experiences.
The Law Commission: Te Aka Matua o te Ture will take account of the multi-cultural character of New Zealand society and New Zealand’s obligations under international law.
Priority will be placed on examining the impact of laws, legal procedures and the delivery of legal services upon:
• family and domestic relationships,
• violence against women, and
• the economic position of women
At all stages of the project, there will be widespread consultation with women throughout New Zealand. The project will also draw upon, and complement, the work of other government agencies, the Judicial Working Group on Gender Equity and other Law Commission projects.
The Law Commission: Te Aka Matua o te Ture will report to the Minister of Justice concerning:
• principles and processes to be followed by policy makers and lawmakers,
• specific law reforms, and
• educational and other strategies
which will promote the just treatment of women by the legal system.

The Commission has already published a number of discussion papers which take into account the concerns of Mäori women:

• Information about Lawyer’s Fees (nzlc mp3)
• Women’s Access to Legal Information (nzlc mp4)
• Women’s Access to Civil Legal Aid (nzlc mp8)
• Women’s Access to Legal Advice and Representation (nzlc mp9)
• Lawyers’ Costs in Family Law Disputes (nzlc mp10)
• The Education and Training of Law Students and Lawyers (nzlc mp11)

Consultation with Mäori women

There was an extensive programme of consultation with Mäori women through hui arranged with the assistance of Te Puni Kökiri (Ministry of Mäori Development), the Women’s Refuge Collective and the Mäori Women’s Welfare League. The views of the women were audiotaped and transcribed. The transcript was compiled by the Mäori women who had planned and helped facilitate the hui, and then considered by a wider group of Mäori women brought together to advise the Law Commission. It was then presented to the Law Commission’s Mäori Committee.

These groups were satisfied that the undertaking made in the terms of reference – to recognise the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi in an examination of Mäori women’s experiences – required the exploration of two matters which were unique to Mäori women:

• the fact that Mäori women sourced their understandings of justice from the Treaty of Waitangi and Mäori cultural values, and
• the fact that a large measure of Mäori women’s concerns about their access to justice was directed at the policies and practices of Crown justice sector agencies.

Accordingly, the decision was taken to produce a draft report for comment by, and discussion amongst, Crown justice sector agencies (see the list of agencies consulted in appendix D). The responses from these agencies and other contributors have been incorporated into this report.