Aotearoa New Zealand does not have a written constitution, rather a collection of fundamental laws, conventions, and documents, including The Treaty Of Waitangi, the Māori text of which ,Te Tiriti, was the one signed by most rangatira Māori (540, compared to 39 who signed the English version), and it is that text which is recognised in international law (contra preferentem).

David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill is, for many reasons, deeply flawed; not the least of which is that his proposal is based on a mistranslation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

In this interview Dame Anne Salmond, who is a Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies and Anthropology at the University of Auckland, takes us back to 1840 to supply the context in which the treaty was signed, before describing, in detail, what each of the articles in the Māori text, Te Tiriti, actually says.

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Gavin Ellis is a media consultant and Honorary Research Fellow at Koi Tu, The Centre For Informed Futures at Auckland University.

He holds a PhD in political studies and is a former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald.

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

Lisa teaches taxation at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her research interests include social justice and inequality. She has a particular interest in what is politely termed “the behavioural impacts of taxation.”

White-collar crime (fraud and deception) is the fastest growing crime type in NZ and in our conversation we cover the general attitude to it in our country

The Tax amounts each year that ought to have been paid but aren’t, are staggering - in the most recent year where data is available (2022-23), Inland Revenue “identified” $973 million in revenue. With our population of 5.124 million, that is $190 for every man, woman and child in the country. That’s what was found – what wasn’t found will be much, much more.

In short, if everyone was honest and paid their taxes we would have better public services or we could all pay less tax than we do.

What could we do?

Lisa says:

“We could resource detection and prosecution more – roughly only 40 people are prosecuted each year for tax evasion as complex cases are costly to enforce.

The government has just cut the Serious Fraud Office budget (by 3.5%) – and the SFO will lose around 7% of their workforce as a result. Currently, they only take a small number of prosecutions a year as their funding is quite low – but this will be reduced even further.

See Table 1 below on IR Resourcing.

And we could increase the penalties for tax evasion. Very few tax evaders go to prison or pay a fine (see Table 2 below on sanctions).

There is a lack of transparency around all the cases that receive negotiated outcomes from Inland Revenue. Negotiations are preferable from IR perspective as they generate at least some revenue – prosecutions typically do not.

Most people are unlikely to be prosecuted if they pay the tax that is due (even if it is from evasion) – which means that people can buy justice (this is not an option open to – for example – benefit fraud).

It also leaves honest taxpayers at a disadvantage (because those who only earn wages and salaries are not in a position to not pay their tax). And essentially there is very little by way of “punishment” for tax evasion.

So there is no deterrence – it just returns people to the same situation that they were if they had been honest.

We have a lot of liquidations in NZ of companies that have tax debt – Inland Revenue initiate usually around 60% of liquidations in NZ. Some will be legitimate – but some will be businesses trading while in solvent – but there are very few prosecutions of these companies.

Lisa told me she likes the idea of sentencing guidelines for white-collar crime. They have these in England and Wales – and the idea is that there are set penalties for certain values of offending. The courts can still take into account mitigating or aggravating factors – but it lends a lot of transparency into the sentencing process. Interestingly, tax fraud has higher penalties than benefit fraud.

There are a lot of things that other countries to do ‘encourage’ people to pay tax – there isn’t necessarily crime in this, but Inland Revenue writes off significant amounts of money every year from unpaid tax. Those who earn wages and salaries don’t get the opportunity to not pay their tax, so there are equity issues when those who are (for example) self-employed, can negotiate to not pay some of their tax:

Publish names of tax debtors

·Impose liability on company directors (e.g. Australia – directors become personally liable for tax debts)

Pass debtors details to credit agencies

Use debt collectors

Not allow tax debtors to bid for government contracts”

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

Catherine was an MP from 2008 to 2017 representing the Green Party. These days she remains an activist in environmental, social justice, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi issues. She is Chair of Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki and works in the campaigns against multinational goldmining in the Wharekirauponga Forest and is active in the national solidarity network for a Free West Papua. She is a writer and a tutor on social change issues, and Te Triiti.

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

What happened to the coastal shipping network we once had?

Why are we not training young New Zealanders for Seafarers jobs especially with the advent of offshore wind farming on the horizon?

And why are the major transport sectors of our economy - trucking,rail and shipping not working more effectively together?

Find out the sensible solution Carl would instigate if he was MInister of Transport.

To support my public journalism work and speaking truth to power, please onsider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

Max Harris describes himself as Public Lawyer. He is a barrister at Thorndon Chambers who also works at ActionStations.

He was an Examination Fellow in Law at All Souls College at the University of Oxford, where he completed a DPhil in constitutional law on the prerogative and third source. He completed BCL (with Distinction) and Master of Public Policy degrees at the University of Oxford as a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar. While at the University of Oxford he tutored philosophy of human rights, taught law for public policy, and participated in (and developed) an education programme at Grendon Prison.

He previously graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA/LLB(Hons.) degree. At the University of Auckland he was Senior Scholar in Law and Political Studies, and Editor-in-Chief of the Auckland University Law Review. His academic work has been published in, among other places, the European Human Rights Law Review, the Journal of Contract Law, and the New Zealand Universities Law Review. He is co-editor of two books on the legal contributions of Dame Sian Elias and Bruce Harris, and author of the book The New Zealand Project. He tutored tort law at Victoria University of Wellington while clerk to Chief Justice Elias at the Supreme Court.

Max has worked as a campaigner and policy researcher, and has a longstanding interest in and commitment to progressive politics. He splits his time between legal research and work as a campaigner for ActionStation. He has authored policy reports on housing policy and a Ministry of Green Works, worked as an economic policy advisor to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in the UK Parliament, and was a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme in New York.

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

Dr Bryan Betty is a General Practitioner at Union and Community Health , a not for profit health clinic in Cannons Creek, East Porirua, a suburb that is known for its high needs and social deprivation. The practice has 7,000 enrolled patients, 90 percent who are high needs with 25 percent Māori, 50 percent Pasifika and the remainder mainly refugee.

Dr Betty was the Medical Director of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners before stepping down to become Chair of General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) last year.

I first met Dr Betty back in 2011 when I was making my documentary Inside Child Poverty and I can tell you he pulls no punches about the broken state of our primary care system and what we need to do to fix it.

Over the course of his career, he has been a vocal critic of New Zealand’s rheumatic fever and type 2 diabetes statistics and is a strong advocate for change that will improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities for everyone – no matter where they live.

Free to listen on Apple Podcast.

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

Dr Nikki Turner is a General Practitioner who is also a Professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Care and Medical Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC), at the University of Auckland.

She works part time as a General Practitioner at the NUHS Broadway clinic in Strathmore, Wellington and academic interests are in immunisation, primary health care and preventive child health.

She represents the RNZCGP (College of General Practitioners) in child health interests, and is a health spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group.

Her professional qualifications include MBChB., Dip Obs Auck., DCH London., FRNZCGP., MPH Hons MD Auck.

To support my public journalism work and speaking truth to power, please onsider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.