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    The quest for consumer voice : an evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act (1994) : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work, Massey University
    (Massey University, 1998) Wealleans, Natalie
    This research evaluated the implementation and outcomes of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act (1994) from the perspectives of a regionally based group of consumers and advocates that operate under its provisions. The legislation provides for the Health and Disability Commissioner, the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights and advocacy services. The foundations of the Act are based on empowerment and it provides the only collective legislated rights for consumers of health and disability services, of this particular kind, in the world. The research identifies the implementation and outcomes of the Act, based on formative policy evaluation. It employed a triangulation of data utilising the methodological tools of document research and focus group meetings. Two focus group meetings were conducted, one for advocates and another for consumers. The data was analysed in six themes, allowing for the elucidation of the key findings. These themes were: the health and disability reforms; consumerism; the office of the Health and Disability Commissioner; the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights; advocacy services and; empowerment advocacy. The key findings that resulted from investigation into these themes were utilised to conclude the research with the prescription of alternative recommendations for policy development and/or organisational structural change. The key recommendations are made in relation to: consumer participation in the health and disability sector; funding levels and organisational structural development from the office of the Health and Disability Commissioner through to advocacy services; an emphasis on the importance of, and need for, promotional activities at all levels of the organisation's service provision and; the need to investigate developing parallel systems of service delivery for Maori. Furthermore, the research noted the need for continued empirical investigation into the provision and functioning of this legislation as it continues to attract international attention and solidify its place within the New Zealand health and disability arena.
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    Environmental guardianship in New Zealand : a cross cultural encounter : a thesis submitted for the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2002) Fernández, Paulina Hassey
    In New Zealand, managing natural resources and planning for the environment entail a cross-cultural encounter between the Maori and the Modern Western worldviews. As different worldviews, each of these groups gives meaning, form and order to their respective experiences of reality in fundamentally different ways. The Maori notion of a spiritual ultimate reality and the rational apprehension of a material reality in the Modern Western worldview produce incompatible and irreducible views over the guardianship of natural resources and the environment. The Resource Management Act 1991 as the major piece of legislation for environmental planning in New Zealand is, however, predominantly monocultural, i.e. based on Modern Western worldview as an absolute and exclusive approach. Therefore, the relationship between Maori and the New Zealand Government in this regard, is characterized by both a deeply-rooted imbalance, and a difficulty to effectively communicate and understand each other. It is suggested that the first step towards an appropriate framework for a crosscultural relationship, is to overcome exclusivist and absolutist attitudes and claims that sustain the predominance of the Modern Western worldview over the Maori. Creating communication and understanding in symbolic levels may bridge the gap between Maori and the Government, and lay the foundations to redress the imbalance in their relationship. Examination of the Resource Management Act and the Treaty settlement process suggests this is feasible and successful approach for dealing with cross-cultural issues and to move towards pluralism in managing natural resources. This thesis concludes in recommendations for moving towards pluralism in New Zealand environmental management, and thereby a reduction in the imbalance between Maori and the government.
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    Māori involvement in natural resource management in Aotearoa New Zealand : do statutory processes create benefits? : a thesis for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Philosophy in Science, Māori Resource & Environmental Management [at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand]
    (Massey University, 2011) Latimer, Tina Patricia
    Maori have been under represented in natural resource management in Aotearoa New Zealand since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi 1840 (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), and the establishment of the British Government in New Zealand in the 1850’s. The establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 as an independent commission of inquiry has provided a valuable role and assisted Maori in achieving recourse to land heritage entitlement and natural resource management through making recommendations to proprietary rights. The Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Waitangi are currently before the Waitangi Tribunal to determine their validity in New Zealand municipal law. Notwithstanding, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples supports Maori human rights but is yet to be incorporated into domestic law in Aotearoa New Zealand. The reform of natural resource management in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1990’s and in particular the Resource Management Act 1991, has partially paved a way forward in developing policy for Maori participation in the statutory application of natural resource management. However, the exemption of Maori proprietary rights to minerals, the conservation estate, marine and coastal area (foreshore and seabed) and compensation thereof remains a contentious debate for Maori. For this reason, Maori proprietary rights and statutory representation to land heritage entitlement and resource management continues to remain at the forefront of Maori contemporary grievances in Aotearoa New Zealand. Treaty of Waitangi settlement legislation partially mitigates historical grievances created by the Crown and their representative agencies. However, the progress of compensating and providing redress to Maori for the alienation of natural resources has been slow-moving since the first national fisheries Treaty settlement in 1992. Eighteen years on Maori continue to seek a meaningful relationship with the Crown Page | iii to achieve parity for the Maori people as the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Providing Maori with their own legislation and opportunities to participate at a local government level in the application of statutory management of natural resources is one means of achieving this. A greater respect of the Treaty partnership can provide a pathway forward and resolve the indifferences that have been long-standing since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Revamping the constitution of Aotearoa New Zealand and ensuring the same within a national Maori statutory body representing hapu and iwi is another means of balancing the inequities that have existed between Maori and the Crown over the last 170 years is also another means of achieving parity in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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    Public control of private military : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Defence and Strategic Studies), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Curley, Marcel
    Private military force must have a fully informed regulatory and legislative oversight if it is to be a useful and controllable tool for states’ management of their political affairs. Today, this requires citizens to be fully aware of and engaged in their state’s military arrangements. Contemporary concerns that animate debates surrounding the prodigious employment of private military contractors by certain modern liberal democracies largely reflect the lessons of history. Private force has not been a consistently contentious issue throughout much of Western history and a periodic assessment of their exploits can productively instruct citizens in their current use. History suggests that control of private military force is maximised by an informed coalition of cooperative and engaged participants that includes public citizens, their principals, and the private agents. Given incentive and oversight, they can be shown to have advantage in achieving certain security and defence objectives. Lack of competent citizen-control mechanisms often results in disorder as public and private motivations and objectives compete. Scrutiny of selected private-military histories can assist in informing what will constitute effective control over private military force in a contemporary paradigm. Refusal to recognise the exemplars offers the potential to see past mistakes repeated, to the peril of existing citizen rights and duties. As the proliferation of private military actors is unlikely to recede, given their persistent attendance alongside various human endeavours, identifying and leveraging the successes and failures of control from historical examples is prudent in order to further inform contemporary citizen’s democratic decisions about their state’s military affairs.