1985 Amendment
This enabled the Tribunal to investigate claims dating back to 1840, when the Treaty was signed. It also enlarged the Tribunal's membership to enable it to handle the increased number of claims. It also required the Tribunal to have a Māori majority.
The 1985 amendment considerably broadened the scope of the Tribunal's inquiries and led to ongoing debate over the appropriate response by the Crown to the findings and recommendations of the Tribunal (see Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements). It was part of the Fourth Labour government's policy of giving greater acknowledgment to the Treaty, as was the inclusion of references to the Treaty in other legislation, such as the State Owned Enterprises Act. This amendment was one of the most important steps towards making the Treaty relevant in New Zealand law and society.
Read more about this topic: Treaty Of Waitangi Act 1975
Famous quotes containing the word amendment:
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)