NZ has huge problems, I've lived there and I am under no illusion that there has been a proper reckoning there. But they're an order of magnitude better than Australia, and that's party due to the shitty treaty they (largely didn't, since it was a dodgy translation) signed. Even if it was mostly ignored and the Maori had to fight for every inch of their rights on the streets, it did make things a little easier for that fight, and for the fights they still have.
AU on the other hand did not recognise that Aboriginal nations held land here at all until the 1990s. We have the highest First Nations incarceration Rate in the World, higher than SA under Apartheid (unless you count the Bantustans as essentially giant prisons, of course, but then we had the forced reservations, the stolen generation, the institutes...). It's really hard to imagine how bad things are. There are entire families that think having aboriginal heritage is something to be ashamed of, and their kids haven't found out until they did a DNA test or found some letters (Fanon's work on Colonial shame is relevant here). It's fucking bleak and racism is open, constant, and blatant in a way that would shock most people here. Major news anchors spew eugenics. Seemingly ordinary humanist libs will suddenly spew the most violent racist bile in a way I've only ever seen with the Romani in Europe.
Some of that exists in NZ as well, but like I said, it's not as mask off or as universal.
I hold little hope, like you, that a voice or a treaty will accomplish practical change on their own. But because most people are libs, it will provide not just a basis for agitprop that will be harder to ignore, but "Legitimate institutions" that can support the substantive campaigns of direct action in a way liberals will be unable to ignore or critique as outside the "proper channels."
If it fails of course, we can bully the Yes voters into radical action, which is also fun. We have a path either way. But I'd prefer a win.
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NZ has huge problems, I've lived there and I am under no illusion that there has been a proper reckoning there. But they're an order of magnitude better than Australia, and that's party due to the shitty treaty they (largely didn't, since it was a dodgy translation) signed. Even if it was mostly ignored and the Maori had to fight for every inch of their rights on the streets, it did make things a little easier for that fight, and for the fights they still have.
AU on the other hand did not recognise that Aboriginal nations held land here at all until the 1990s. We have the highest First Nations incarceration Rate in the World, higher than SA under Apartheid (unless you count the Bantustans as essentially giant prisons, of course, but then we had the forced reservations, the stolen generation, the institutes...). It's really hard to imagine how bad things are. There are entire families that think having aboriginal heritage is something to be ashamed of, and their kids haven't found out until they did a DNA test or found some letters (Fanon's work on Colonial shame is relevant here). It's fucking bleak and racism is open, constant, and blatant in a way that would shock most people here. Major news anchors spew eugenics. Seemingly ordinary humanist libs will suddenly spew the most violent racist bile in a way I've only ever seen with the Romani in Europe.
Some of that exists in NZ as well, but like I said, it's not as mask off or as universal.
I hold little hope, like you, that a voice or a treaty will accomplish practical change on their own. But because most people are libs, it will provide not just a basis for agitprop that will be harder to ignore, but "Legitimate institutions" that can support the substantive campaigns of direct action in a way liberals will be unable to ignore or critique as outside the "proper channels."
If it fails of course, we can bully the Yes voters into radical action, which is also fun. We have a path either way. But I'd prefer a win.