Newsmaker: Annette Sykes | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

This week's Newsmaker is Mana Party president Rotorua's Annette Sykes who made submissions at a hui in Rotorua this week regarding proposed asset sales. She is also an activist at Te Tii Marae every Waitangi Day.

Tell us about yourself
I am a daughter of the peoples of Te Arawa and Mataatua and a settler farmer family who were initially at Otamarakau where Ngati Makino has its principal marae but were eventually awarded lands near Taneatua, close to one of my Tuhoe connections Ngati Hamua.

I'm from Kawerau, where my mother still lives and have a deep affinity with the Bay of Plenty hinterlands where the backbone of our society, work, play, engage and look after each other.

I am a mother of two children I am hugely proud of. One is graduating with a double degree this year. The other is an officer in the Army.

How long have you been a lawyer?

For 28 years. I attended Victoria University and the University of Auckland where I graduated in 1984 with a senior prize in law and was an active member of Te Reo Maori Society and Maori Womens Groups dedicated to advancing the rights of our people during my time there. I am a partner in the law firm Aurere Law in Rotorua which specialises in advocacy to ensure human rights are upheld and the needs of indigenous peoples to promote their own systems of law are recognised. I am an advocate in the Waitangi Tribunal, Maori Land Court and Court of Appeal as well as other general courts of New Zealand.

What are your main interests as a lawyer?

My desire to confront injustice is a key motivator for all aspects of my legal practice, be it in Women's Refuge, challenging men for their violence against women and children, or in land claims disputes challenging the State for unlawful practices that disenfranchise tangata whenua of their lands and taonga or in the criminal courts.

What does Waitangi Day mean to you?

It's part of a continuum recognising the role Maori have as the first nation peoples who live in co-existence with others to promote peace and social justice, the goals of this founding document. It is a reminder to the New Zealand public of the relationship entered into by Pakeha and Maori which forges an eternal connection for all future generations based on mutual respect and understanding. At its core is the notion of power sharing between these two communities in the governance models over this nation. The document spells out clearly the terms of that sharing.

Do you think people appreciate what Waitangi Day is about?

Maori have certainly become more aware of its significance and it's in the public consciousness a lot more than in the past. The Treaty is not just a document to be appreciated but to be honoured and entrenched in the constitution of the country. I am really overwhelmed by recent polls indicating that Generation Y (our rangatahi) have more understanding of the Treaty and its meaning than other generations. That is a direct consequence of efforts by many for education on Te Tiriti o Waitangi to be an integral part of our education system. I look to them to see the sleeping taniwha in the treaty, the power sharing outcomes in our constitutional arrangements to be given effect in their lifetimes.

How do you see Waitangi Day being celebrated in 20 years?

In 2040, 200 years after the signing of the Treaty, our country will have quite a different population spread. The browning of Aotearoa New Zealand will be complete and many will draw heritage from Maori, Asian, Pacific and Pakeha ancestors, who will be bilingual and have an intimate connection to the Pacific. Waitangi Day will remain a 'historical marker' and will remind us where we as a nation have come from - what our constitutional developments have been in terms of power-sharing between Maori and the Crown since 1840.

Why were there protests at the hui in Rotorua this week and Te Tii Marae last weekend?

When Maori rights are under attack, advocacy for the Treaty has always been taken on a number of fronts. The early 20th Century saw a number of legal challenges to the Privy Council for great figures like my ancestor Tamihana Korokai and Te Heuheu Tukino. In the 1980s following the land march those protests went out on to the streets and into the marae, community halls and church discussion groups. The present round of protests have been triggered because important constitutional protections like the State Owned Enterprise provisions are under threat.

The privatisation agenda of the Government too has brought a sharp focus to the inequalities in our society. So for me these protests have everything to do with the poverty that has exploded following the neo-liberal models of development that have been imposed. I don't believe in that kind of development because it produces class divides where the labour gets exploited and the managerial class gets increasingly wealthy.

I basically think there is a strata of Maori that have got into bed with Pakeha - and what you're seeing is a fracturing of Maori too along class lines. That's why we need to think carefully and strategically about our alliances because we are moving into a different time here - where poverty will see us having more in common with impoverished white people than some of our own whanau.

Why is section 9 of the State Owned Enterprises Act 1986 so important?

Since the fiscal envelope debate of the late 1980s/1990s section 9 protection have always been under threat. The rationale promoted by Treasury and other bureaucrats is that, with settlements, the treaty ceases to be relevant. The attempted removal of section 9 is the evidence of this underlying philosophy a blatant attempt to make the Treaty invisible in the future decisionmaking of this country.

At its heart is the desire to make the Treaty a relic of the past. But the Treaty lives. It is our constitutional foundation stone and there are many Treaty of Waitangi activists like me who will go to all forums, courts, protests, international human rights venues to remind governments of this . It's really important that we get these simple messages out there to people.

What would be the biggest thing you have learnt in your career - particularly representing those with cases in the Waitangi Tribunal?

It's a bit like that korero from one of those advertisements. Change will happen but it won't happen overnight. Despite all of the developments in Treaty law in the last 25 years and all of the korero with whanau, hapu and iwi through the settlements process, the Crown still thinks they have the right to define us and to proscribe the limits of Te Tiriti. They don't.

Tell us three things about yourself that most people probably wouldn't know.

I was the head girl of United World College of South East Asia in Singapore in 1977 and speak Malay.
I am an avid lover of live music concerts and a huge fan of Three Houses Down, Ardijah, and Sons of Zion.
I have a personal trainer and attend the gym regularly.