Editing Politics of New Zealand (section)

=== Māori politics and legislation ===
{{Main|Māori politics}}
{{See also|Māori protest movement}}
Māori political affairs have been developing through legislation<ref name="Taonga">{{cite encyclopedia |url = https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-ture-maori-and-legislation/page-5 |title = Te ture – Māori and legislation |language = en-NZ |access-date = 28 May 2018 |encyclopedia = Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand }}</ref> such as the [[Resource Management Act 1991]] and the [[Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993]] and many more.<ref name="Taonga" /> Since colonisation in the 1800s, Māori have had their customary laws oppressed, with the imposition of a Westminster democracy and political style. As reparations from the colonial war and general discrepancies during colonisation, the New Zealand Government has formally apologised to those ''[[iwi]]'' affected, through settlements and legislation. In the 1960s Māori Politics Relations began to exhibit more positivity. The legislature enacted a law to help Māori retrieve back their land, not hinder them, through the Māori Affairs Amendment Act 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-HilMaor-t1-body-d7-d4.html |title = The Maori Affairs Amendment Act {{!}} NZETC |website = nzetc.victoria.ac.nz |access-date = 28 May 2018 }}</ref> Since then, this progressive change in attitude has materialised as legislation to protect the natural environment or Taonga, and the courts by establishing treaty principles that always have to be considered when deciding laws in the courts.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-timeline/treaty-events-1950 |title = Treaty events since 1950 – Treaty timeline |website = New Zealand History Online |language = en-NZ |access-date = 28 May 2018 }}</ref> Moreover, the Māori Lands Act 2016 was printed both in {{lang|mi|[[te reo Māori]]}} and English—the act itself affirms the equal legal status of {{lang|mi|te reo}}.