Appropriate Dispute Resolution through Tikanga Māori
Wednesday 23rd August | 9.05 am
Keynote I Kaikōrero Matua
Overview:
Litigation is not working for Māori and non- Māori for that matter. Dr Joseph asserts that tikanga Māori was an effective legal system historically, if not more effective then British common law. Tikanga Māori was also the first law of our country and we need to resurrect and update tikanga Māori for effective use in our 21st century Aotearoa New Zealand legal system. Dr Joseph will review methods of resolving disputes between Māori out of Court utilising methods that recognise tikanga Māori that aim to keep intact the mana of all parties involved.
Dr Robert Joseph
LLB, LLM, PhD Waikato
Tainui, Tuwharetoa, Kahungunu, Rangitane, Ngai Tahu
Senior Lecturer, Research Centre Director MIG (Law), University of Waikato
Dr Robert Joseph is Māori from the Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui, Tūwharetoa, and Ngāi Tahu tribes in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dr Joseph is an Associate Professor of Law at Te Piringa-Faculty of Law at the University of Waikato and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1998. Dr Joseph completed his PhD in Law in 2006 and he was a senior research fellow in Te Matahauariki Research Institute under Judge Michael Brown and a senior research fellow in the Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Office at Waikato University under
Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
Dr Joseph was awarded the ‘Best PhD Thesis Internationally on Canadian Studies Award’ in 2009 by the International Council for Canadian Studies for his PhD Thesis Dissertation: ‘The Government of Themselves: Indigenous Peoples’ Internal Self-determination, Effective Self-Governance and Authentic Representation: Waikato-Tainui, Ngāi Tahu and Nisga’a.’
Dr Joseph is the current director of the Māori and Indigenous Governance Centre at Waikato University, he has been a trustee on numerous Māori trusts and organisations, and he is a founding member of Te Taumata, the Māori Committee for the New Zealand Government Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2022, Dr Joseph was appointed by the High Court of New Zealand as a pūkenga (expert) to assist Cull J in the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 High Court hearing in Ngā Hapū o Tokomaru Akau v Te Whānau-a-Ruataupare CIV-2017-485-000247.
He was also a mediator in 2022 for Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) dealing with the return of Crown surplus lands under the Public Works Act 1981 in the Turangi township. From 2021-2022 Dr Joseph was also appointed an Independent External Commissioner in the Independent Waikeria Prison Riot Inquiry under the Department of Corrections, and he was a member of the independent Arbitration Panel to determine ownership of four Māori land blocks in downtown Rotorua.
In addition, Dr Joseph has lectured internationally on Māori and Indigenous matters including at the United Nations in New York and at Harvard University. Dr Joseph is the current New Zealand representative on the International Inter-Tribal Trade and Investment Organisation (IITIO), he is a former Claude McCarthy and Fulbright Scholar, the latter at Harvard University and the University of Arizona, he is an expert witness, and licenced researcher and legal historian in the Waitangi Tribunal; a former Vice President of the Battle of Orākau Heritage Society Inc., and he has also worked with the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona, the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute in Brisbane, and at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia. In 2021, Dr Joseph co-edited and published the seminal Law textbook Joseph, R & Benton, R, (Eds.), Waking the Taniwha: Māori Governance in the 21st Century, (Thomson Reuters, New Zealand, 2021) 1025 pages.
