E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.3 page 20 A return to the assimilationist model appears increasingly in public discourse, 81. redirecting concern about collective rights and the place of Maori as a people within the wider society, to emphasis on the protection of the individual rights of all New Zealanders, including the rights to equal opportunity, due process of law and freedom from illegal discrimination on any grounds, including ethnicity or race. 82. These wider constitutional and societal issues need to be debated responsibly and democratically by all social and political actors concerned because their solution will determine the kind of society New Zealand will be in the future. VI. RECOMMENDATIONS 83. On the basis of the foregoing considerations, the Special Rapporteur makes the recommendations that follow to both Government and civil society. A. Recommendations to the Government Constitutional issues 84. Building upon continuing debates concerning constitutional issues, a convention should be convened to design a constitutional reform in order to clearly regulate the relationship between the Government and the Maori people on the basis of the Treaty of Waitangi and the internationally recognized right of all peoples to self-determination. 85. The Treaty of Waitangi should be entrenched constitutionally in a form that respects the pluralism of New Zealand society, creating positive recognition and meaningful provision for Maori as a distinct people, possessing an alternative system of knowledge, philosophy and law. 86. The MMP electoral system should be constitutionally entrenched to guarantee adequate representation of Maori in the legislature and at the regional and local governance levels. Iwi and hapu should be considered as likely units for strengthening the customary 87. self-governance of Maori, in conjunction with local and regional councils and the functional bodies created to manage treaty settlements and other arrangements involving relations between Maori and the Crown. 88. The Legal Services Act should be amended to ensure that legal aid is available to Maori iwi and hapu as bodies of persons so as to afford them access to the protection mechanisms of human rights, and in order to eliminate discrimination against Maori collectives. Human rights and the Waitangi Tribunal. 89. The Waitangi Tribunal should be granted legally binding and enforceable powers to adjudicate Treaty matters with the force of law. 90. The Waitangi Tribunal should be allocated more resources to enable it to carry out its work more efficiently and complete its inquiries within a foreseeable time frame.