Recent Appointment of Carwyn Jones as Head Lecturer for Māori Laws and Philosophy 

With a background in law, Carwyn Jones has been working on issues relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori legal issues generally, and Indigenous law. He worked at the Law School at Victoria for 15 years, and before that at the Waitangi Tribunal and the Māori Land Court including the Office of Treaty Settlements.  He was one of the negotiators for Te Rohe o Te Wairoa Treaty of Waitangi Claims. Carwyn completed his undergraduate degree at Victoria, University of Wellington, and his postgraduate studies at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. 

Recently appointed to the position of Pūkenga Matua (Head Lecturer) for the Ahunga Tikanga programme (Māori Laws and Philosophy), Carwyn had been the external monitor for the programme over the past eight years. He was pleased to do that work and enjoyed the connection with Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Carwyn is Ngāi Te Apatu and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa and was born and raised in Napier. 

“... working in a way which is ethical and principled …" 

Moana Jackson was one of Carwyn’s heroes and was part of the reason he decided to do law.  Moana’ report He Whaipaanga Hou: Māori and the Criminal Justice System was hugely influential on his thinking about colonisation and its impact, and decolonisation and re-indigenising law. Carwyn was also one of the many people who worked with Moana on Matike Mai Aotearoa (Constitutional Transformation in New Zealand). Another of Carwyn’s heroes is Ani Mikaere. Her work in the Māori legal field has grounded and pushed his own thinking. Carwyn also regards Joe Williams as a mentor, because he is someone who thinks about things in an interesting way. And John Burrows, an Indigenous law academic from Canada is another who Carwyn regards as a hero.  He met John at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. There they teach a joint law degree, a common law degree and an Indigenous law degree, and they are setting up a National Centre of Indigenous Law. He believes that John has done amazing work in Canada in thinking about Indigenous law and this has helped spur us on here around Māori law and Tikanga Māori as a legal system and as a source of law in Aotearoa. In Carwyn’s view, the things that connect his heroes and mentor are their commitment to a kaupapa and to working in a way which is ethical and principled. They are all super smart and the way they engage is always respectful, never needing to talk over people to make a point but always strong in making that point. 

“... debate and contest ideas from a basis built on principle and reason …" 

For graduates of the Ahunga Tikanga programme, Carwyn hopes, “They will develop an ability to engage in critical thinking and be able to ask the hard questions. It is important they think of Tikanga as the first law of Aotearoa and to debate and contest ideas from a basis built on principle and reason. It is all those techniques of critical analysis and thinking that I hope students will develop and more importantly be able to connect that with their own lives as Māori.” 

He toa takitini  tōku toa, ehara i te toa takitahi 

My strength is that of many, not of a single person