traditional knowledge conference 2008 te tatau pounamu

continues to receive Touch funding for Māori development through SPARC (Sport andRecreation NZ).The most significant achievement by Māori Touch NZ and Touch NZ (TNZ) was theestablishment of a partnership agreement in 2004, based on the well-being of the game and therecognition of the importance of both organizations. The agreement contains the followingaspects:the importance of the well-being of the game of Touch in Aotearoa/New Zealand;access by Māori Touch NZ to TNZ technical resources (including expertise);the individual player (if selected) has the right to state his/her eligibility for eitherorganization;TNZ reserves the first right of selection of players;Māori Touch NZ selections are only made at Māori Touch Tournaments;TNZ recognizes and supports the Māori Touch NZ Tournament date;TNZ supports Māori Touch NZ membership to FIT (Federation of International Touch); andparticipation in World Cup events and in international competition.The partnership agreement is not always successful in bridging the divide that the partnership,by nature, seeks to address. This is because, despite being a binding document, it relies ongoodwill from both parties in order to be implemented. So, rather than focusing at adocument/policy level, one could argue that, at the very core of partnership models inAotearoa/New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi challenges the notion of partnership at aconstitutional level.Figure 2. Treaty of Waitangi House model. Adapted from Royal, 1998.This model promotes the creation of distinct spaces in which the cultures―one represented asMāori and the other represented by the Crown―can naturally evolve in their own way. The modelalso outlines the principles, guidelines and conditions in which these two discrete “houses” caninteract with one another to give rise to the “Treaty of Waitangi House” (Royal, 1998).The model can be applied to any area of New Zealand society. With respect to theknowledge industry (if it can be referred in this way), the “Tikanga Pākehā House”represents that range of institutions devoted to the perpetuation of the knowledge, traditionsand knowledge agendas of the Crown. These would include universities, mainstreamschools, the Ministry and Foundation for Research, Science and Technology and manymore. Those institutions which fulfill the “Tikanga Māori House” are kōhanga reo [Māorilanguage preschool], kura kaupapa Māori [school based on Māori philosophy and use ofMāori language], whare wānanga [Māori tertiary institution] and others. The range of“Tikanga Māori Houses” is growing. (Royal, 1998)In respect to the game of Touch, the partnership model proposed by Māori Touch NZresembles closely the Treaty of Waitangi House, as shown by this next diagram.223